Another Mouth to Feed
by Suzululu08
Summary: What do you do when you haven't the slightest clue who you are or where you came from? Why become a pirate of course. Piggy may not have intended to join Luffy's crew but when fate intervenes she'll have to go along for the ride and maybe gain some friends and have an adventure or two along the way, whether she wants to or not. OCxLuffy(pairing might change)
1. The Beginning of Everything

**A/N: One Piece is Property of Eiichiro Oda. This is a work of fanfiction only Zelda and other original characters are mine.**

 **This chapter has been edited combining chapter one and two.**

 **"** Talking **"**

 **'Thoughts'**

 _Flashback_

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Bang!

"The Future King of the Pirates has arrived!"

All four patrons turned to see who had kicked open the door to the drinking establishment. Much to their relieve and humor, rather than a large man, bearing scars and an eye patch at the entrance stood a scrawny boy with short hair and a smile that displayed a missing tooth showing that he could be no older than nine years old.

"Hey lady! Give me a pint of grog!" the child ordered as he walked up to the counter and caught the attention of a woman who while she looked like a young woman in her early thirties was actually in her mid-fifties.

The woman who was tending to the bar couldn't help but snicker at the sight of the boy struggling to climb up on the stool.

"Aren't you a little young to be drinking alcohol? How about a glass of orange juice or milk instead?" the woman offered as she leaned down to look the young boy at eye level.

"No self-respecting pirate drinks milk," the boy pouted.

"oh you're a pirate I take it?"

"That's right, I heard that pirates come here so I came to check out the competition. Someday I'll be King of the Pirates just like Monkey D. Luffy!" the boy boasted.

"Well you're no Monkey D. Luffy, I can tell you that much," the bartender told him as she placed a glass of juice, that the boy took a sip of despite his earlier protest.

The boy put down his drink and stared at the woman who was tending the bar on Sabaody Archipelago, "How would you know lady, aren't you a waitress? Are you Shakky? From the sign?"

"Actually Shakky is my mother," the bespectacled blonde answered. "She retired some years ago, she and dad decided to take up sailing once more in their golden years."

"As for Luffy," she signaled for the boy to move in closer and whispered. "I was part of his crew for a time."

"No way! Were you really a Strawhat Pirate!?" the boy exclaimed. "How long were you a pirate? Did you find the One Piece? Do you have a bounty? How much are you worth?"

The woman pressed her hand againt the boys mouth in an effort to quiet the child down, whose inquires had garnered a round of laughter from the bar's patrons.

"Hey Zelda, careful what you tell that boy or you might end up with an admirer," one of the men laughed from a nearby table.

"She may not look it brat, but Zelda really did travel the grandline all those years ago," another patron called out.

Zelda, the bartender, couldn't help but join in the laughter much to the boy's embarrassment. "Would you guys stop teasing the kid, why don't you focus back on your game of checkers?"

The child looked at the woman with a bit of scrutiny, "If you really were a strawhat, then how did you meet Captain Luffy?"

"Let's see it was more than thirty years ago…."

 _The pirate in the iconic straw hat approached the blonde woman._

 _"You're Strong! Join my Crew!" Luffy shouted._

 _"Um okay," she agreed not putting up a fight to the boy's request._

"Wait that it?!" the young boy objected. "What kind of story was that? There wasn't any ships or treasure hunting or sword fights! Start from the beginning."

"The beginning…okay let's go back further…."

 _"Roger's time in getting shorter and shorter," Silvers Rayleigh informed the woman who was serving him a drink._

 _Shakuyaku, most commonly known by her nickname Shakky, was the bartender of Shakky's Rip-off Bar, where the two were the only occupants of the establishment._

 _"And you're sailing again tomorrow," she mentioned before taking a puff of her cigarette._

 _"Is there anything you don't hear about?" he asked rhetorically, taking a sip of his rum._

 _Putting out her cigarette, the black haired woman took hold of the hand of the pirate sitting across from her and intertwined their fingers._

 _"In that case the sooner we go upstairs, the more rounds we can get in," the woman teased with a wink causing a sly grin to grown on Rayleigh's face._

 _Downing the rest of his drink, the man pulled the woman around from behind the counter and brought her in to his hold,"Well let's not waste any time down here, put the closed sign and meet me upstairs."_

"Whoa, whoa, lady I thought this was going to be a story about pirates, not some grown-ups making kissy faces" he said interrupting her story.

"What's the matter kid, afraid of a little romance?" she teased as the boy stuck his tongue out at her in return.

"I'm eight," he answered dryly.

"Fine, I skip to nine months later. Now where was I? Oh right…"

 _"You look ready to pop any minute," the mustachioed man joked in an attempt to ease any anxiety the pregnant woman was feeling._

 _"I know that Doc, you think if my water hadn't broken I would be here in the first place," Shakky drawled._

 _"I have to say for a woman in labor you're awfully blasé about the whole thing, then again we've pump you with enough drugs to knock out an elephant," he chuckled as they waited for the contraction to get closer._

 _Wincing when another round of pain hit her, the forty year old Shakuyaku placed a hand on her rounded middle that over the past nine months her belly had swelled out from her body._

 _"Oh my, looks like it's almost time, nurse get the hot water and towels ready," the doctor ordered._

 _Shakuyaku or Shakky as her friends called her, for years had maintain a special friendship with the Pirate King's first mate, Silvers Rayleigh._

 _At first things hadn't been too serious, the two were old acquaintances having run into each other a few times when they were both starting their careers as pirate. Her, a young woman trying her hand at a life of Piracy and him, an older and more experienced pirate whose crew was often chased by the marine, Monkey D. Garp._

 _Years later the two were reunited the day the Roger Pirates happened upon Shakky's bar. In the beginning the two pirates were mainly looking for physical companion ship and found it in each other. One of the things the two had agreed to when they started sleeping together was to keep things casual._

 _Things had changed in the last couple of years, when Shakky had found herself wanting more than just to have passionate wild sex with the famous first mate. Much to her own chagrin, in their last couple of meeting she found her heart beating rapidly whenever Rayleigh would walk through the door of her business._

 _It was during their last rendezvous that the first-mate had left the woman in her current condition. Her pregnancy was something currently known only to herself, the doctor and the nurse in the room assisting with the delivery._

 _His status as a parent was something she had yet to make Silver Rayleigh aware of and she doubt he would know any time soon seeing as she hadn't seen him since their night together, not that Shakky was worried. She knew from past experiences that Rayleigh came and went as he pleased and he would be seeking her out once more and they would pick-up where they left off as was their habit._

 _"You better get over here, fast!" Shakky called out to the doctor as she got ready to finally meet the child she had been carrying and talking to for months._

 _Cries filled the hospital room. Once out in the world the baby was held upside down, the doctor having had a hold of babe, proceeded to smack her rear, the shock from the slapped causing the newborn to cry and take her first breathe._

 _"Congratulations madam. You have yourself a healthy baby girl," the Doctor announced._

 _After being cleaned up and wrapped in something warm by the nurse, the newborn had been placed in her mother's arms. A feeling of calm washed over both mother and daughter as Shakky held her child close._

 _"Have you thought of a name yet ma'am?" the young nurse asked._

 _"Zelda, that going to be her name," the new mother told the other two in the room "My little Zelda."_

 _The newborn couldn't help but cry as Shakky took the little hand into her own. It would take some time but she would somehow accustom herself to the cries._

 _"Now, now Zelda. It will all be alright." The new mother cooed in an effort to calm the baby._

 _For the first couple of years the mother and daughter duo settled into a routine. Shakky still managed her bar, where she continued rip-off her customers, pirates and civilians alike, while raising her young child with stories of her days as a pirate on the high seas._

 _The subject of the child's father never crossed their mind until a couple days after Zelda's third birthday._

 _Shakky had gotten Zelda a much needed pair of glasses. Excitedly the toddler ran to the bathroom to see how the spectacles looked._

 _This was the first time Zelda had looked at herself in the mirror and analyzed her reflection as a sense of questioning overcame her . She looked at her features and couldn't help noticing the difference between herself and her mother._

 _Zelda could tell that her mother was beautiful in a mature way with her pouty lips, short black hair, not to mention she somehow manage to keep her figure even after having a baby. It was no wonder why there was no shortage of bar patrons hitting on the retired adventurer._

 _Where Shakky had black hair, Zelda was strawberry blonde. Their eyes were different colors and their facial features lacked similarity._

 _Running back to the main room of their living quarters above the bar, Zelda ran to her mother's lap and asked "Mommy am I adapted?"_

 _"Adapted?" she questioned before realizing what the girl meant. "Oh you mean adopted, no you're not. Why would you think that?"_

 _"Because we look different, like- like I have yellowy hair and you have black hair, and, and I wear eye glasses and you don't."_

 _Shakky wasn't offended by the question, in fact she found the situation rather humorous. She answered her daughter honestly, "Zelda that's because you take after your dad."_

 _"Dad?" she inquired. "Who's that?"_

 _"An old friend of mine. You'll meet him one day, as a matter of fact he might make an appearance soon, since his crew is no longer sailing the grand line," she said having kept up with the latest news._

++++++ Another Mouth to Feed +++++++++

 _"Get ready for me Shakky! You'll be to tired to open the bar tomorrow after the night I have planned for us."_

 _After Travelling around the grand line for a final journey with thr Roger Pirates, Silvers Rayleigh had returned to Sabaody Archipelago and his first stop was Shakky's Rip-Off Bar. While he was still a pirate in spirit, Rayleigh was ready to settle down and live a more quiet life now that the Roger Pirates disbanded and his best friend had turned himself in to the world government._

 _He hadn't had the heart to see his Captain and friend be executed choosing instead to return to what he considered, after a talk with Rogers and a much delayed realization, to be the love of his life._

 _Looking up towards the top of a mangrove root, a small smiled crept on the former first mate's face as he took in the familiar sight of the rip-off bar. It had been at least a couple of years since he had been there._

 _Opening the door, Ray looked around to find the place empty. It was still early in the day so that was to be expected._

 _"Shakky! You around?" he called out. "Shakky? Where are you?"_

 _"We're not open yet mister," a voice answered._

 _Not seeing anyone around, Rayleigh approached the bar and looked over the his surprise saw a little girl about two or three years at the most, putting away cups under the counter._

 _"You mind getting her for me?"_

 _"What business do you have with mom?" Zelda asked being weary of the stranger._

 _"I'm sorry did you just say mom?"_

 _Sizing up the man on the other side of the bar, the child got a good look at him, just as her mother had taught her. It was obvious that the man wasn't the same as their usual clientele. Puffing up her cheeks and putting her hand on her hips she spoke to the first-mate as she would to anyone who would come into the bar._

 _"Yeah, mom as in mother, my mother. Who the hell are you?" the little girl inquired._

 _Rayleigh was a bit taken back with the way the little girl before laughing out loud. "You know in my day kids didn't speak to their elders like that."_

 _With a small huff, she retorted, "Well this is my day sir and we do."_

 _With a big smile, he asked, "and just who might you be?"_

 _"If you want to know it'll cost you 500 berries."_

 _"What do you know, You're Shakky's kid after all, I'm Ray, a friend of your mom."_

 _Rayleigh sat down at the bar, putting down his bag next to him. The child didn't look much like Shakky he notice. Rather the little girl had long strawberry-blond hair and dark eyes, similar to his own. While Rayleigh wasn't naïve he still wanted to confirm his suspicions with Shakky herself._

 _"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes, Ray," said the familiar voice of his friend Shakuyaku._

 _With a smirk on his lips he greeted the woman. "Shakky you're looking good as ever. Though I never pegged you as the kind to have a kid around."_

 _Shakky place a drink of grog in front of Rayleigh, as she patted the young girl's head in reassurance, "I see you've met Zelda already."_

 _"Spirited young thing isn't she," he commented. "Though if you have her hanging around here she would have to be."_

 _Shakky looked down at the young girl who was standing next to her,"Zelda, that's enough for now why don't you take some of your crayons and take a break. Mama has some business to take care of."_

 _With a quick nod, the little girl hopped down from the step stool she was standing on and opened a box that was stored under the counter and ran off to one of the other tables. Rayleigh couldn't help but laugh, he knew it had been a few years but he hadn't expected to find his friend as a mother._

 _"Don't you think Zelda, looks a little familiar?" Shakky asked._

 _Rayleigh just stared at Shakky not saying a word as he had a feeling of where she was going with the subject. Looking towards the small girl as she focused on her drawings, he had to admit that Zelda did share a few familiar features._

 _Putting his drink down, he calmly replied, "I thought as much…so how did this happen?"_

 _"I'm surprised Rayleigh, a man of your age not knowing," she replied with a slight bit of sarcasm._

 _"Okay, okay point taken. Were you ever going to tell me?" he couldn't help but ask_

 _"You would have eventually come back so there was no rush," Shakky told him as she got out a cigarette and lit it up._

 _"So what now?" he asked, genuinely unsure how to go about the situation._

 _In his years as part of the Pirate King's crew he had come upon all manner of life and death, managing to prove his self deserving of his Epithet 'Dark King' but the thought of having a child baffled him to no end._

 _"I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to spend some time getting to know the girl, after all she is your child too ." She told him._

 _Downing the rest of his drink, Rayleigh thought the suggestion over. Standing up, Ray pulled a chair over to the table covered in paper as he sat down in front of the young girl._

 _"Looks like we'll be getting to know each other, and see how much you take after your old man."_

 _"I'm not going to call you daddy," she said with a bit of attitude, implying that she had been listening in on their conversation as she continued to draw ._

 _Although he had only just met the child, Rayleigh couldn't help but feel a slight bit of disappointment at his daughter rejecting him on the spot._

 _Rayleigh was brought out of his momentary funk when he noticed a green crayon being waved in front of his face._

 _"Here…you can draw something too," Zelda told him feeling bad after she saw the way his face fell when she told him she wouldn't be calling him dad anytime soon._

 _Taking the crayon from the small hand, Rayleigh took a piece of paper after a bit of encouragement from the child mother._

 _"How about if you call me Ray for now?" he suggested trying to get the girl to open up to him._

 _"Maybe sometime the two of you can go to the amusement park," Shakky interjected as she blew a puff of smoke._

 _Putting down her crayon Zelda perked up at the suggestion, "Really? Will you take me?"_

 _"Well I don't know about that…." Rayleigh thought out loud._

 _"Please Ray? I've never gotten to go before."_

 _Looking at her big eyes and smile, the retired pirate knew then and there that he was going to have a rough road ahead of him as he found himself giving in to the child's plea._

 _"Sure, what can go wrong at an amusement park?"_

 _Five months later, Rayleight took Zelda and the promised trip. It had taken some time as the girl had to wait for the former pirate to come back home as he had disappeared the following day._

 _"How come Ray leaves all the time?" she asked her mother. Ever since Rayleigh had come back into their lives and started living with them, he had the habit of leaving for days at a time and then coming back as if he hadn't gone anywhere._

 _"That's just how he is. You have to remember Zelda, it's not easy for a pirate like him to stay in one place so long."_

 _Finally Ray had returned and had taken the girl for some overdue father-daughter time._

 _"Ray can I get a balloon?" she asked getting some money in return before walking to the person in an animal costume._

 _"Hey Big bro check it out," Unknown to Zelda she had caught the attention of a couple of con men had spotted the child wandering on her own. "Looks like it's time we got in the human trafficking business."_

 _Before she knew what was going on, one of the human traffickers came up from behind one of the stalls, putting a cloth soaked in chloroform over her nose and mouth. Zelda was quickly knocked out and taken the small girl in a knapsack and dragged her off to their headquarter where the con mem stored their merchandise._

"You were kidnapped?! Right from under Silver Rayleigh's nose? Was it a devious plot to get revenge on the Dark King? Were there explosions and, and lots of bullets flying? Did you die?!"

"Considering I'm talking to you right now, I'm pretty sure I lived," Zelda answered the hyperactive child.

"It's too bad I wasn't there, I would have beat up those kidnappers with my thunder kick," Raj, the young boy boasted kicking the air.

"You hear that fellas," one of the four men at the bar announced to the other three. "You best watch yourself around the lad, or else he come after you with his lightning punch."

"Not lightning punch! Thunder kick!" the boy hastily corrected.

"Okay, okay, tough guy just try not to break anything with your thunder kick. Now where was I? Oh right, the kidnappers…"

 _"Bwhahaha" cackled the two kidnappers as they moved with haste into their hideout not far from the amusement park._

 _"What are you two morons smiling about now? You better have gotten some loot or it'll be toilet duty for you," their boss warned as the man smoking a cigar put down his newspaper wondering what his two henchmen were planning._

 _The shorter of the two lackeys spoke up, "It's like this boss, we were getting some cotton candy over at the amusement park when we came up with a great idea. You're always saying you want to get in the slave business, well look what we got. Moose, bring the burlap sack."_

 _The bigger of the two henchman followed, "Er uh sure thin' Rocky."_

 _Moose, the larger kidnapper, turned over the bag roughly causing the sleeping child to fall out and land roughly on the floor accompanied by the sound of glass breaking as the girl landed on her reading glasses._

 _"Moose, you moron! You'll bruise the merchandise," Rocky chastised before giving his partner a whack on the head._

 _"Shut up! Both of yous," their boss commanded as he got up from his chair to get a closer look at Zelda._

 _"Aside from a cute face, the little bitch looks too small and scrawny to even lift a broom let alone be of any use for manual labor," he analyzed as most slaves were used for hard work._

 _"I suppose we ciuld sell her to a factory, they're always looking for kids to work in the small spaces."_

 _"What do you think boss? Did we do good?" Moose asked._

 _Rather than answer the boss of the group headed for the door, "I want at least fifteen brats for our first sale."_

 _Once the boss gave the go-ahead, Rocky and Moose took the small girl and locked her in a small storage closet._

 _"Um shouldn't we tie her up Rocky? What if she gets out?" he questioned earning him a slap from the short henchman._

 _"You idiot, that's why we'll be locking the door. What's a squirt like that going to do when she can't even reach the door handle.? She's not even conscious. Now move it you lummox, the boss said he wants fifteen more urchins."_

 _The two men left none the wiser as to the hell that would await them the moment they step outside their hideout._

 _Rocky and Moose had only walked a couple of feet away from the entrance to their hideout when their path was blocked._

 _"Move it guy if you know what's good for you," Rocky threatened,_

 _"You two took something of mine…" The man said in a serious tone._

 _Rayleigh had been aware of the men, the only thing keeping him from using Conqueror's Haki on the men was the large amount of children and families surrounding in the amusement park. Keeping a close eye on the duo he followed until they were in a more sparse area to knock the men unconscious._

 _Surprisingly they lead him to their hideout not that far from the park entrance. The former first mate could have easily knocked the two kidnapper unconscious then and there but he wouldn't let the men who had abducted his child get off so easily._

 _"Listen buddy, we don't know what your talkin' 'bout. We are legit Business men," Rocky said trying to brush Rayleigh off._

 _"Has anyone ever told you that you're a bad liar?" Ray asked rhetorically._

 _"You obviously aren't gettin' the hint buddy. Moose show this guy what's what," the short man ordered._

 _Moose and Rocky didn't even take a step as all they caught a glimpse of was a blur that left them with several broken bones and what would be years of extensive physical therapy to numb the pain._

 _"Rock, I don't think tha' was an ordinary sucker," Moose said breathing heavily._

 _"Shut up Moose!" His partner said barley understandable with the swollen lip and missing teeth._

. ++++++ Another Mouth to Feed ++++++

 _In the same timeframe that Rocky and Moose were getting their punishment outside, inside the gangster's hideout from within the small room Zelda began to stir as she awoke._

 _"Ray?" she called still unsure of what was happening as she slowly opened her eyes to find her guardian nowhere to be found._

 _Sitting up the young girl tried to figure out where she had woken. Her vision compromised due to her broken eyeglasses and lack of bright light, Zelda could barely see her surroundings but knew she was no longer at the amusement park._

 _Spotting a door the child made an attempt to leave the room but found that the door had been locked."Help! Let me out! I'm stuck!"_

 _While trying to get someone to hear her shouts to be rescued, the strawberry blonde girl started banging on the door and the walls of the closet, accidently bumping into one of the shelves causing a box to fall over and open._

 _From within the box a rather large banana-like fruit fell in front of Zelda, who as far as she could tell looked like an ordinary piece of fruit._

 _Unbeknownst to the youngster the fruit wasn't just any fruit but a devil fruit the Neko Neko no Mi also known as the Cat-Cat Fruit, Orange Tabby Model. Anyone who consumed the fruit would be transformed into a cat and inter-species hybrid forms._

 _"Food!" the girl cried feeling fatigued from her situation._

 _Had her glasses not broken and she had a better light source, the youngster would have noticed the swirled pattern on the fruit and not have consumed it. As far as Zelda was concern she only wanted something to satisfy her hunger, with a growl from her stomach Zelda didn't hesitate to eat the strange fruit._

 _All the girl ate was one bite and Zelda felt like gagging, "Ugh! This banana taste bad!"_

 _Despite throwing away the rest of the devil fruit, the one bite she had already swallowed was enough to change her life._

 _The door to the closet opened, and Zelda ran to the room entrance, "Hey you! Have you see-"_

 _The girl stopped talking when she saw the mean-looking gangster standing at the door giving her an intense glare.._

 _"What do you think you're doing you brat?" the Gang Boss yelled seeing the open box. "You little bitch , you just cost me millions of Berries!"_

 _Fear took hold of the child as tears began streaming from the frighten girl's eyes caused by the gang leaders scary appearance and tone._

 _The gang boss, was about to backhand the little girl in anger at the loss of the devil fruit he planned to sell at auction. "Stop crying you little worm!"_

 _Reacting to her body's need to fight or flight, Zelda subconsciously activated her devil fruit powers for the first time. Gaining cat-like features, the scared minor clawed the gang leader's arm causing it to bleed profusely._

 _Just as quickly as she had changed, the small tot had returned to normal still unsure as to what had just happened to her. Given her current situation Zelda didn't have time to think as the gang leader had also seen her become fully human once more._

 _"Now you're really going to get it!" he yelled at Zelda as he pulled out a pistol._

 _"Mommy! Daddy!" she cried out truly scared of what the man would do to her._

 _Almost as if hearing his cue, a hand took hold of the gang member's arm as his pistol fell to the ground in pieces. "Don't you dare lay a hand on her," an eerily calm voice advised._

 _"Daddy!" the child cried causing the retired pirate to release the boss of the kidnappers who took hold of his obviously broken arm causing to fall over in pain._

 _Zelda ran past the gang boss and leapt into Rayleigh's arms who lifted her up and buried her tear covered face in his neck as she latched on refusing to let go._

 _"I thought you said you wouldn't call me dad, guess you were really scared" he joked in hopes of comforting the girl after what he imagined had been a frightening experience for the child._

 _Sniffling she looked up at him as he carried her out of the hideout._

 _"I wasn't scared," she pouted. "I just changed my mind is all," she said before hugging his neck once more._

 _"What do you say we get some ice cream, courtesy of these gentlemen," he said displaying several wallets in his free hand._

 _Rayleigh had taken their wallets and cash as compensation for all the trouble they caused him when he was trying to have a nice day out with his kid._

"Wow! You ate a Devil Fruit, what did you do with your powers?! Did you start fighting people? What kind of powers did you get? Can you shoot laser's out of your eyes? Or, or, or fly?"

"Seriously Kid, what did you have for breakfast a bowl of pure sugar?" Zelda asked the energetic boy who wouldn't stop asking questions.

"Actually I didn't really do much with them, I didn't even know I had eaten one, until one day I tried to swim and almost drowned," she answered. "Luckily Hatchan was around to save me…"

"When did you meet the pirates?" Raj asked eagerly waiting to hear about the sailing adventurers.

"Pirates….Well there was this one time I met Shanks, captain of the red-hair pirates…"

 _"Shanks, how have you been?" Rayleigh greeted his former subordinate._

 _"I need to get my ship coated," Shanks explained_

 _"Leave it to me and my assistant, right Z?"_

 _"Huh, oh yeah sure," the pre-teen girl replied not looking up from her book._

"That's it?" Raj asked.

"There was also the time the pirate Empress and her sisters stayed with us…"

 _"Zelda come meet our guest," Shakky called. "They're from Amazon Lily."_

 _The girl looked over the counter to see three young females, who had been taken in by Gloriosa, a friend of her parents._

 _"These girls are sisters. That's Hancock, Marigold and Sandersonia," the former empress introduced,_

 _"Hi" the adolescent girl greeted._

"Seriously? That's it?" Raj asked.

"Okay, how about the day Ray and Shakky tied the knot?" she suggested to the child.

 _"Shakky let's get married," Rayleigh asked one morning at the breakfast table._

 _Shakky put down her newspaper and coffee cup as she thought about how to respond to the suggestion._

 _"Why not, I don't have much going on today," she answered._

 _"Hey Zelda try to be here around four in the afternoon, your mom and I are getting hitched," Ray told his daughter._

 _"Hmmm, sure okay," answered the ten year old girl finding her Cereal more interesting than the news of the upcoming nuptials._

"Weren't you even the least bit excited?" the boy questioned.

"Why? All they were doing was signing a piece of paper and maybe having a slice of cake."

"Geez lady, you're not really much of a story teller," the boy frowned as he finished his glass of juice and was eating the snack Zelda had place in front of him, of course with it being the child's first time at the Rip-Off bar, he had no idea that each bite and sip would mean an extra hour of chores since he had no cash on him.

"You best watch the way you address Zelda shrimp," one of the four men warned.

"Yeah, Laddie, the woman may not look it but she'll make you pay through the nose." A second one added.

"Rip-Off Bar isn't just some cutesy name," a third man chimed in.

The boy looked over at the men and inquired, "If that's true then why do you come here?"

"Now that I think about it, why do we keep drinking here?" one of the men asked out loud.

Sensing possible defection, Zelda slammed her hand on the counter, before addressing the four customers in an scarily calm tone, "Now I know none of you were even thinking about going to drink somewhere else."

The four men gulped loudly, although the woman was easy on the eyes, everyone on groove thirteen knew not to get on Zelda's bad side even if it meant paying exuberant process for cheaply made drinks and snacks.

"As for you," she addressed the young boy, "If you keep putting ideas in their heads, I'll kick you out of my shop and there will be no story about the Strawhats," she threatened to the boy who sat down and quieted down.

"I'll be good," Raj said sitting down to let the woman continue her story.

 _"Did dad come back yet?"_

 _"Good morning to you too," Shakky greeted her daughter as the young adult walked into the bar, barely paying attention as she made the trek downstairs from her bedroom._

 _Stifling a yawn, the daughter sat at the counter and laid her head down before muttering, "Sorry mom, good morning."_

 _"Got any plans today or do you plan on just hanging around here like you do every morning?" Shakky asked knowing the likely answer._

 _Despite being a young adult of twenty-four years old Zelda had no intentions of moving out anytime soon or rather doing much with her time in general. Thanks to her mother's genetics she looked like she was still in her mid-teens, appearing to those who weren't in the know as just another kid living with their parents._

 _"You know when I was your age I had traveled the grand line a couple times," the parent told her child._

 _"Trust me mom I'm perfectly content here, besides I don't have plans of Sailing or becoming a pirate anytime soon," She said as she reached over the counter for the coffee pot._

 _Shakky who was always in the know, had been hearing rumors and news of new pirates everyday. "I'm not saying you have to become a pirate, but you should see the world while you still can. I've heard that several crews are making waves in the pirating world."_

 _"Good for them, but I already know what my life plan is, I'll stay here with you, work at the bar, once in a while help out dad and when you retire I'll take over the Rip-Off Bar."_

 _It was not the first time the subject had come up between the mother and daughter. While Rayleigh was perfectly content to let his daughter remain on the archipelago so long as she stayed away from some of the grooves, Shakky felt her daughter wasn't living her life to her potential._

 _"I'll be eating out," she mumbled before leaving the bar not wanting to discuss the subject further._

 _'Why do I even have to do anything, I perfectly happy with the way things are now,' Zelda though as she walked a couple a grooves until she got to one of the smaller eating establishments._

 _"What will you be having Miss?" the waiter asked as he took out his notepad._

 _"I'll have two eggs; one over easy, one over medium; three sausage links; a cup of cottage cheese with a drizzle of honey; a fruit cup; unless it's mostly honeydew melon, in which case skip it and make it half a grapefruit; a glass of whole milk over ice and a side of toast barely browned; closer to bread than toast, I'm not joking; with as many local jams as you have in stock... Oh, and a Bloody Mary."_

 _The man looked at the young woman, "Sorry Miss, we don't serve alcohol for breakfast, but we do have a selection of teas and coffee available."_

 _Before Zelda could order her drink a shout alerted all those in the plaza_

 _"Everyone quick a celestial Dragon is heading this way!"_

 _Anyone who had been on Sabaody long enough knew that when a citizen of Mariejois was in sight to bow down and not look them in the eye. Some of the shop owners hurried to close their businesses, and those who couldn't got down on their knees as fast as they could._

 _A shot was heard as the world nobel shot down his slave._

 _"Stupid Slave! How dare you make me waste one of my bullets on you!" he yelled. "Now I need new servants, those peasants over there will do," he told his guards._

 _Chancing it, Zelda Glanced up Zelda saw that the noble had been pointing in the direction where Zelda found herself kneeling. Her thoughts had been affirmed when she felt herself being grabbed by a guard and pulled towards the celestial dragon along with eight other people._

 _There were several cries of protest but Zelda knew to bide her time. She knew what to do in her situation thanks to Rayleigh who had purposely let himself been captured several times by slavers and had taught his daughter how to escape should she ever find herself apprehended._

 _"Hold it! Those three bring them here."_

 _Once more the guards placed their hands on Zelda had been pulled aside along with two other young woman._

 _"Who knew there could be peasants that didn't make me want to gag upon laying eyes on them. Those three will be my new personal attendants," he declared eyeing the three women up and down with a lecherous look in his eyes as he passed them._

 _"Let my sister go you jerk!" a young man yelled._

 _"Izuku Stop you don't know what you're doing," the woman yelled only to be pulled back by the guard holding her._

 _"Insolent bug, how dare you approach me!" the celestial dragon brandish a gun and aiming it at the young man._

 _Before he could take a shot, Zelda who had been standing at a closer distance to the world noble than to the young boy made the choice to attack the man in the bubble helmet knocking the gun out of his hand with a twist of the man's arm_

 _"How dare you touch me with those filthy hands you peasant!"_

 _He reached for another gun and aimed for Zelda, As he was about to fire sirens alerted the populace to the rising of the tides. The people began running about as they tried to head for higher ground before the water rose._

 _"Don't just stand there go defend your master!" the valet of the world noble ordered the armored guards and marines who had been unlucky enough to be assigned to the protection of the spoiled man._

 _'Looks like these guys aren't even worth the energy needed to change,' she thought._

 _Taking advantage of the noise and commotion Zelda kneed the groin of the first guard that came at her and tossed him towards the noble, as the other guards ran to help the fat noble up Zelda ran in the opposite direction._

 _"You idiots! Go after her! No one gets away with disrespecting me! Call an admiral!" the man in the bubble helmet commanded._

 _Thanks in part to her knowledge of the area, Zelda had chosen an old abandoned building, as a hiding spot to catch her breath and wait until the search for her died down._

 _Believing the coast was clear Zelda attempted to make her way home, however the rising water meant that her usual path wasn't an option as she had always been warned to avoid the rising water while on her own or else she would drown if she fell in._

 _Everything looked like it would be okay, until shouts cautioned the woman to the presence of an admiral only a few meters away. Switching direction Zelda tried to backtrack only to walk backwards into a thick wall._

 _Knocked down she looked up to see what it was that she had bumped into. "Son of a- it's you!"_

 _The person blocking the way need not introduce himself, as Zelda instantly recognized the person who had knocked her down. In her mother's collection of wanted poster she had looked upon the image of the warlord, Bartholomew Kuma many times._

 _"You're wanted."_

 _Called to the Archipelago by the Marines, the girl believed he was there to assist in either her capture or more likely her death._

 _To the contrary, due to his work with the revolutionaries, he had decided that the girl could be beneficial to their cause in the future and decided to spare her_

 _Zelda crawled backward knowing that even she chose to change forms in that moment the girl would be no match for the warlord. She tried to back away but found herself unable to move only sinking deeper into the sap that was unique to the island._

 _Looking down at the strawberry blonde girl he asked her "Where would you like to go?"_

 _Zelda hadn't expected the question. Not giving her another minute to answer he uncovered his hand displaying the paw print on his palms_.

++++++ Another Mouth to Feed ++++++

 _Silvers Rayleigh had been gone for nearly two months, most of that time he had done as he pleased but despite his carefree lifestyle still kept tabs on his wife and daughter._

 _"Something's happened…" he uttered._

 _"Nice try but you won't get out of paying what you owe the house," the man from the gambling parlor said._

 _"Who? Me? Of course not, you know I'm good for the money," he said garnering a round of laughs from the other people at the table who were well aware of the retired pirates losing streak._

 **' _Zelda no longer on Sabaody…'_**

* * *

 **Thanks to everyone for reading. Any comments or questions please leave them in the review.**

 **Thank you to GodzNo for Reviewing (and you were right I made Rayleigh slightly weaker than he would have actually been especially in his prime.)**

 **Thank you to Puddykatz and Wizard Alchemist for favoriting.**

 **Thank you to Puddykatz, Wizard Alchemist, Cervuss, koreanlover21873, Godzno, LittleAngel2292 and camillevedelsby for following**

 **Edited on 10/4/2017**


	2. Does anybody here not have amnesia?

**A/N: This is a work of fanfiction. One Piece is property of Eiichiro Oda.**

 **Only Zelda and other OCs are mine.**

"Talking"

 _Flashbacks_

 ** _Thoughts_**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

"I'm going out, see you later!"

"Raj! Where do you think you're going young man?"

The eight-year old boy stopped just before he could reach the door of the shop where he helped his parents.

"You're not planning on leaving the mall are you? Young man, you know I don't like you going to the lower numbered grooves, it's nothing but murderous pirates and thieves who wouldn't give a second thought to hurting a child. "

"I'm not afraid of those losers because I'm going to be the king of the Pirates!" the boy boasted but decided not to mention that he had already ventures to the lawless area.

"I thought I told you to stop it with that pirate nonsense, what if someone were to hear you, could you imagin the shame, my only son going into a life of piracy. Oh my!" he said gasping before wilting into a faint.

The boy's mother rushed to her husband's side, "Darling! You know what gasping in shoick does to you!"

Taking the opportunity while his parents were distracted, the boy ran out of the store and headed towards Shakky's Rip-Off Bar to hear more of the new owner's story as he had had to leave before she finished.

 _The boy stood up in shock, "What! You were sent flying by the Bartholomew Kuma!"_

 _"That's right and I can't tell you first hand his push is no joke. I was in the air so long that after a while I couldn't even tell what day it was," Zelda told him recalling her first experience with the warlord._

 _"So what happened then? Did you meet Captain Luffy?" The boy asked eagerly._

 _"We'll get to that part soon."_

 _The boy pouted, "You've been saying that for two hours."_

 _Hearing how long she had been talking with the boy, Zelda glanced at the wall clock. Almost as if automatic the door to the bar opened as several people walked in. Despite the bar seedy reputation for ripping off its customers there was always a couple of suckers who had no idea that their wallets would be empty by the end of the night._

 _"I'll have to continue the story another time, I've got customers coming in," she told the kid._

 _"Can I come back tomorrow?" the boy asked._

 _Before she could say anything one of the new arrivals called out "Hey can we get couple pints of grog over here?"_

 _"Oh um sure," she answered Raj distracted as she began pouring the drinks._

Not bothering to knock the red-haired boy walked into the drinking establishment calling out, "Hey Bar Lady! I'm back!"

He entered the nearly empty bar expecting to see the grown woman behind the counter only to find that the only other occupants were a couple of old men hovering over a chess board and a cat on sitting on the bar counter.

"Hey Bar Lady where are you!?" he called again before taking a seat at the bar near the light orange cat.

Looking over at the animal he asked "Are you getting food for your fat cat?"

Upon being called heavy the feline's fur seemed to bristle in annoyance. The orange tabby cat jumped from the counter and landed on the floor next to this his chair.

Raj's jaw dropped when before his eyes the large cat turned into the human woman he had been calling out for.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Raj exclaimed in awe as Zelda appeared before him.

"Well thank you for that assessment young man," she said not surprised at surprised face.

Those who hadn't had many encounters with people who had devil fruit abilities tended to be the most shocked at such sights.

"How did you do that?!"

"Weren't you paying attention yesterday? I told you, I ate a devil fruit when I was little girl," she said taking a seat next to the boy.

"I ate a zoan type fruit, meaning I gain the ability to change into an animal form. In my case an orange tabby cat."

The boy couldn't help but be in awe of ability before remembering why he had come to the bar in the first place.

"Oh yeah, lady you promised to finish your story from yesterday."

"Huh? Oh right I had forgotten about that. Where did I leave off?" she asked her visitor.

"You had just encountered Bartholomew Kuma," the boy answered.

"Okay let me see if I can recall what happened after…. well it's like this, the famous warlord had sent the beautiful, cool, well loved young girl-"

"Beautiful? Cool? Well loved? Hahaha are you sure you're talking about yourself Zelda?" one of the old men playing his board game interrupted.

Joining in his friend added, "Hahaha, yeah that's the first time I've heard those words in combination to describe you."

Zelda shot the two old men a glare before grabbing a lime from the bar and throwing it at their heads.

"You want to run that by me again," she said with an eerily calm smile on her face.

 **O _ld ladies are scary…_** Raj thought making sure to watch himself around the former pirate.

"Right so as I was saying the beautiful, cool , popular beloved maiden found herself on a small island in the east blue…"

++++++Another Mouth to Feed+++++++

"How long has it been now?"

Flying through the air non-stop had caused the young woman to become disoriented and lose any sense of time. As far as Zelda could tell she had been flying through the air for at least three days. Until finally…

 _ **I really hope mom didn't eat that half of the chocolate bar I opened….Did they ever end that strike at the dome….dad's probably robbing another rich idiot, how much did he lose th-**_

Zelda was jolted from her train of thought when she felt the sensation of falling. Her journey was at its end as the girl braced for a crash landing, thinking quickly she transformed into her full animal form having found the old adage about cats always landing on their feet to have been proven true in the past.

Shutting her eyes she braced for impact as the female feline broke several tree branches before reaching the bottom. While the landing had been rough in her paws the landing had been as bad as she expected. Surrounding Zelda on the ground was a giant paw print in the ground, similar to the marks she had seen on the warlord's palms.

"Could that have softened the landing?" she asked returning to her human form once more as she examined the landing area.

Her curiosity was put to a halt with the rumbling of her stomach and the feeling of dry lips hitting her harder than ever seeing as thanks to the incident with the celestial dragon Zelda hadn't been able to get her breakfast order.

"At least my glasses didn't break," she said to herself grateful to at least where she was going in the forested area she had ended up in.

While she could see well enough without her glasses, Zelda was already at a disadvantage with only the clothes on her back and a couple of berries in her pocket, bad eyesight wasn't something else she needed.

It took over an hour of trudging but the blonde finally found what she was looking for.

"Water!"

The water in the small brook seemed fresh and clean enough to drink. Cupping her hands Zelda drank the spring water greedily only slowing down when her stomach began to ache.

Having had her fill of water the wonderer turned her attention to finding food oor at least some sign of civilization. Slightly delirious from dehydration Zelda had been careful as she wondered the forest.

 ** _Where the hell am I? Somebody get me o-_** The young adult didn't even finish her thought as she slipped on mud and lost her footing causing the young adult to fall down a steep hill in a tumble.

Zelda tried changing forms in an effort to stop her fall hoping to grab something with her tail or claws. For all her effort she ended up hitting her head on a rock just as she tried her feline form.

The girl only came to a stop as she landed with a hard thud in a small clearing in the woods. The hit had caused her to become unconscious.

+++++Another Mouth to Feed+++++

Watermelon Island was a small island located in the East Blue. The small land mass wasn't famous by any means but the small population that called it home were happy enough with the bounty provided by the islands forest and fields of watermelon that gave the island it's name.

One such resident was Harold, an old woodsman who live on the edge of the forest with his wife of forty years.

The old man was whistling a tune as he walked home after a long day of gathering wood to sell in the village market.

 _ **It gets harder and harder every day. If only I had a son, a child to help this old man** ,_ he thought wistfully as he walked through the woods only to step back when bunch of debris fell in front of him.

"That was a close one! I could have been hurt really bad….hold on what's this?"

His attention was caught when he saw an orange lump in the middle of the forest clearing. Grabbing hold of his axe, the old man approaching the object blocking his path. To his surprise it appeared to be a rather large orange and yellow cat. He poked the animal with the axe handle. The cat let out a small meow thought its eyes remained closed.

The woodsman couldn't help but feel sorry for the kitten. Harold had always had a soft spot for small animals as his wife could attest to from all the small animals he had brought into their home over the years.

Bending down he grabbed the cat in his arms and brought her home.

"Wife! Look what I found!" he called out to his spouse. The woman rushed to the door of the small cottage wondering what her husband had brought home this time around.

"What is it Harold?" Momo the old woman asked. She couldn't help but hope that this would be the day that perhaps he had found some gold or diamonds. "Please don't tell me it's another injured squirrel or shrew."

"No it's a cat," he said holding out the injured feline. "I found her in the forest she looked like she had quite a tumble."

"Seriously Harry you have to stop bringing all these animals with you we're not a vet's office," she said before resigning herself knowing she wouldn't be able to convince her husband to stop.

With a large sigh the wife knew there would be no convincing her husband to put the animal out. "Fine but put it in the wash tub first. We need to clean off some of that mud before we treat it's injuries."

The couple ended up treating the cat's injuries and placing the feline to rest in the kitchen. The next morning Momo had gotten up and gone to the kitchen to make breakfast. Harold had slowly followed still sleepy only for his eyes to pop open upon hearing a crash come from the kitchen.

"Wife what is it?!" he asked only to have the old woman point to the floor.

Expecting to find the recovering cat sleeping on the kitchen floor, there was instead an unconscious young woman in its place.

The girl appeared to be human and couldn't have been older than sixteen. To their surprise the former feline was fully dressed and was even wearing glasses. Noting her features they saw that she had Strawberry blonde hair that reached her lower back and bangs that frame her face, had an attractive face, possessed fair-skinned, and was a slender, curvaceous and very well endowed young woman of tall stature.

"Do you think she wandered away from the village?" the old man asked, never having seen the girl around the small hamlet.

"Look at her head and arms, she has the same bandages as that orange cat," his wife pointed out.

Harold thought for a moment, "You don't suppose…no,no, it's too….although anything is…."

"What are you trying to say?" Momo asked.

Thinking back to the stories he heard as a young boy, he at first thought it unlikely but said, "Perhaps it is an answer to our wish. A young person to help out around here."

"But a cat?" Momo couldn't help but wonder.

Harold thought it over, "Perhaps it's like that story with the old woman who got a flower and inside was a tiny girl or that old couple who found a peach and there was a little boy inside. Maybe this is one of those situations, but in our case our child was a cat."

"Our child…"

The couple had always wanted their own child but had never been able to have one. Although the girl was older than she would have expected of any child she would think of adopting, Momo thought it perhaps for the best since at their age a baby would be more than they could handle. And an older child would be able to help out around the home.

Due to the rarity of Devil Fruits in the East Blue, the thought that their guest had consumed one never occurred to the senior couple.

It was a day later that the girl began to stir as they heard rustling having moved the girl to the living room of the small cottage.

"Hurry Harry she's waking up," Momo called out.

Slowly the young lady sat up. Her hand went to her forehead where she winces from the pain.

"Don't pick at it dear," Momo said slightly scolding the injured person..

Noting the girl's silent response, the woodsman approached her slowly. "Do~ you~ understand~ me~? What~ is~ your~ name~?"

The girl tried to remember her name but for all her effort she got a head ache "I don't know."

"Oh excellent you know how to talk like a human," the old man said.

Looking at the old couple in confusion the young lady asked "Where am I? Who are you?"

Due to her head injury Zelda couldn't remember who she was or where she came from. Developing amnesia she had no recollection of her past.

"I'm Momo and this Harold, and if you like this can be your new home."

Before anymore could be said the girl's stomach growled.

"How about we get you something to eat. Do you eat human food or cat food?" Momo inquired.

Unsure as to what the woman meant she answered, "Human food, I guess."

Several different dishes were laid on the table. To the old couple's surprise the girl ate not just her portion but asked for four more portions

While the blonde ate, the new parents watched on as they discussed what to call the teenager.

"Perhaps we should call her kitty," the wife suggested.

"A little on the nose don't you think? Hmm…From the way she's eats maybe Piggy would be more appropriate," the old man joked only to receive a slap on the arm from his spouse.

"Now dear be serious you can't go around calling a young woman 'Piggy' do you want to destroy her self-esteem?"

"I like it," a voice interrupted the married couple, having been listening in on the conversation..

"Do you really want to be called Pig? I mean do you know what a pig is sweetheart?" Momo asked thinking that perhaps the former cat had never seen or heard of a pig.

Lifting the point of her nose to look like the snub snout of a pig she made animal noises, "Oink, oink."

Harold laughed at the girl's gestures "Blahahahaha! See my love, the cat likes it. It's settled 'Piggy' is your new name."

Momo couldn't help but think about what the other woman in the village would think if they thought that she had named her child after a farm animal. **_This is probably why it's not a good idea to let children name themselves._**

"More please!" the girl asked holding out her plate.

Over the next couple of weeks the trio settled into their new routine as life continued at the small cottage at the edge of the woods. Harold and Momo finally had the child they had wanted even if she had come from unusual circumstances.

It was not long after that rumors began to spread in the village that the woodsman and his wife had a daughter that they had kept hidden for years when Piggy first travelled to the village having helped Harold carry the chopped wood.

"Momo dear, I had no idea that your daughter was such a beauty. No wonder you and Harold wanted to keep her your little secret," one of the women at the market complimented upon spotting the older woman with her new family member as they shopped for groceries.

"Well she does take after me," Momo said, with a coy smile.

"What is your name dearie?"

"Piggy," The girl said oblivious to the odd look the name earned her.

"I'm sorry, I think I misheard you," the woman said.

"Never mind that, how is your son?" Momo asked hoping to change the subject of conversation as she spent a bit of time hearing the latest gossip.

"My son just finished his apprenticeship and…"

Leaving the two women to talk, Piggy walked around taking a look at some of the other shop windows and stalls.

The sound of glass breaking quickly interrupted the peace as loud cackles could be heard in the square.

A group of six pirates had come to the village and rather than go about their day had begun causing trouble. "Alright fellas, take what you want. Anyone gives you any lip you just shoot them," one of the pirates said taking out his pistol.

Due to the small size of the island and low population there wasn't much of a marine presence in the village making it an easy target for pirates. While the sheriff and his deputy could handle the occasional thief or drunkard, bands of pirates were a different story.

People began running away as the pirates grabbed whatever they could get their hands on. Momo looked around for the familiar mop of reddish blond hair. "Piggy! Where are you?!"

Despite hearing the call of the old woman, almost as if on auto pilot Piggy grabbed a bat that had been dropped by a child who had ran past her and walked in the direction of the roving pirates.

Two of the men were caught off guard only being aware of what happened when their guns fell to the ground in pieces.

Jumping in front of another of the pirates, Piggy sent the pistol flying out of his hands before hitting him in the ribs with the bat sending the man to the ground in pain.

Hearing the commotion, a fourth pirate aimed his gun at the girl, but quickly found himself with a broken hand as the gun was knocked out of his hands. "You ugly bit-"

Not letting him finish his sentence, Piggy shattered the man's knee cap and collar bone with the club. The three standing pirates had watched as their associate was being beaten by what appeared to be a teenage girl.

"Come on lads let's show her what's what." The three ran towards the girl only to receive whacks to the back or head.

Groaning in pain the low ranking pirates huddled together. "Let's get out of here."

"You won't get away with this! We're the Tiger Moth Pirates." They said before running off in tears.

"Piggy! Where did you learn to fight like that?!" Momo asked having watched the pirates being sent running.

"I'm actually not sure….It's almost like my body knew just what to do…" Piggy said only to quickly forget the seriousness of the situation. "But how cool was I? Check me out, Little Miss kickbutt, yeah."

Upon their return to the cottage Momo sat Piggy down to talk.

"Piggy, I know I've asked this before but how much do you remember from before you met us?" the old woman inquired.

"Not much, I mean I knew things like how to count and how to take a bath and…"

Shaking her head Momo said "Not like that, I meant if you knew how you came to be with us?"

Receiving a no, she continued. "I suppose I should have mentioned it but when we found you, you weren't well you…that is to say Harry hadn't brought a person but rather a cat."

"A cat?"

"We woke up and found you as you are now. It was a bit of a shock to the old heart to say the least."

"Hmmm I need a moment to think about this," she said before going off to the woods to think over the information.

In a way it did explain the way they treated her the first few days. From offering her balls of yarn to play with to always offering her milk when she was thirsty.

"I wonder if I can change into a cat again…."

+++++ Another Mouth to Feed+++++

"You didn't think we'd let this go, did you?!"

Two days had passed since their first appearance when the Tiger Moth pirates came back into town. This time it was the same five pirates but they had brought not only five more members of their crew but their first mate as well.

Once more the citizens of Watermelon Island were being menaced by the band of pirates.

One of the shop owner grabbed his apprentice. Taking the young boy and pushing him out the back door he gave the boy instruction to find the woodsman daughter having witnessed how easily the young woman had gotten rid of the criminals.

"Quickly go find Miss Piggy, she should be back at the woodsman's cabin at the edge of the forest. Go!" he sent the little boy running before returning to the store front to watch what was happening.

The old town sheriff appeared, "Now, now gentlemen, I'm sure we can work something out wherein you leave the people alone and go about your business."

The officer's effort to calm down the situation was met with laughter from the pirates who pushed the old man and his deputy to the ground and took to shooting the ground near the two.

"Now where can we find the guy who took down my men?" The first mate asked out loud looking for answers.

Noticing how the people were glancing at Momo who had gone to the market to buy food to feed the very person they were looking for, the first mate approached and signaled for one of his men to grab the short old woman.

Leaning down to look the housewife in the face he couldn't help but smirk.

"This is the eight foot tall wrestler in spikes and chains that beat you up?" the first mate asked reiterating his men's description of who they said had beat them up.

"Let her go!" One of the villagers shouted at the pirate.

"Are you the one?" The first mate walked up to the villager and gave him a kick to the stomach causing him to kneel in pain. "Guess not."

Taking Momo hostage, the first mate called out "Who was it?! Who was the one who messed with my men?!"

Not getting an answer he grabbed a canister of oil and poured the flammable liquid over the old woman as another pirate held Momo in his grip.

"Speak now or the old lady gets it!"

Taking out his lighter he lit up a cigar and started counting started counting. "You have until the count of three! One! Two! Thr-"

Before the man could count to the third number, the old woman had been removed from the sailor's grip. Additionally a few yards away the same low level pirate had been stuffed into a barrel face first with his legs kicking in the air.

"It's alright mama, I made it just in time."

Momo looked up to see who had rescued her, "Piggy is that you?!"

In front of her stood a cat-girl. While an amber-orange stripe patterned fur covered most of her body the woman still looking fairly human. Despite the seriousness of the situation the old woman couldn't help but Cat ear atop her head cat-like nose and a long tail to be cute.

The little boy had found the girl in the woods, where she had been trying for a couple days to turn into a cat once more. Rather than a cat, the boy had found a person sporting cat-like features.

After getting over his awe at the cat-girl, he remembered his mission and alerted Piggy to the situation at the market square.

The first-mate looked in shock at the sight of the easily disarmed pirate. Addressing the rest of the shipmates that had come along he said, "You didn't mention that the person was a devil-fruit user."

As seasoned sailor he was well aware of what devil-fruits were, tough knew they were rare in that part of the world.

"You're so strong sir that we didn't think it would matter." In truth the men didn't want to admit that she had managed to defeat them without the aid of the devil fruit.

"Hey you!" Piggy addressed the man leading the pirate group. "That's right I'm talkin' you Ugly face donkey face donkey neck weird legs! You're going to get it now. No one messes with my family and get away with it!"

"Weird legs?" With a bored expression on his face the first mate took a puff of his cigar. "Well you idiots, what are you waiting for? Go get your payback!" he order.

A bit hesitant the pirate crew ran towards the cat girl, this time weapons in hand, as they wouldn't let the girl win so easily this time around.

"Kit kat kick!" she called out her attack, leaping into the air the girl kicked three of the men in succession, before jumping once more and kicking two more at the same time with a split kick.

One of the pirates came at her with a sword. Piggy went low as she swiped at his ankle and then quickly kicked the same man in the back as he fell.

The three remaining pirates surrounded her. As they tried to attack at once only to receive kicks to the groin as she took one of them and sent him flying into a shop window.

"Sorry Mr. Baker!" she apologized as soon as she heard the glass break.

The first mate took his own sword and aimed for the girl while her back was turned to him.

"Look out Piggy!" Momo warned.

On instinct, the blonde girl back flipped out the way delivering a kick to the older man's jaw and she distanced herself.

Rather than pursue her, the first mate called out to the men. "All of you get back to the ship. We'll finish this later."

"Alriiight!" Piggy cheered. "I sure showed them."

The citizen that had been hiding all came out as soon as the pirates left many quickly thanking the girl for her fighting off the pirates.

Piggy chose not to stay as she approached her adoptive mother. "C'mon let's get you cleaned up."

Taking the old woman in her arms, Piggy still in her cat-like form took off on the rooftops.

"Piggy how did this happen?" Momo asked regarding the woman's new feline characteristics.

"After you told me about the whole 'You use to be a cat' thing, I tried to turn into a cat and well…" she then gestured to her cat ears.

By the time they got home Piggy was fully human once more.

Harold saw the state if his wife and asked what had happen.

Piggy had finished telling the story to the old man when she made a declaration."I've decided I'm going to get rid of those pirates once and for all!"

"But Piggy! You can't take on a whole ship of pirates on your own. What if this time they hurt you," she said worried Piggy had been pushing her luck.

"Don't worry I've fought worst….I think…..I mean I could have…."

While Piggy didn't know anything about her life before being taken in by Harold and Momo, she had to assume that thise fighting moves she had been showing off had to come from somewhere and the way she easily took down her opponents meant she either had some tough opponents or rough training. **M _aybe I'm overthinking it._**

Heading for the door the girl was ready to kick some pirate booty.

"Wait," the woodsman said.

"I want you to take my lucky axe, if it can take down a bear it'll come in handy against those bandits" the old man said as handed the bladed tool to the girl.

"Ooh a lucky axe, look out pirates Piggy's gonna get ya."

+++++Another Mouth to Feed++++++

Unknown to most people in the village who rarely explored any part past the woods, the south side of Watermelon Island had a large cavern. Large enough to hid a large ship, thus it had become the preferred of the Tiger Moth pirates, a group of pirates that had originally arrived on the island for supplies and instead had taken to causing trouble for the locals.

It had taken a bit of detective work but after some inquiry Piggy found the Tiger Moth Pirates' hiding spot. The pirates had no sense of subtlety if the loud music and noise coming from the ship's deck was any indication.

The girl looked around for a way onto the ship without getting in the water, as something told her that she wouldn't fare ware in the deep lagoon. Her problem was quickly solved by the placement of a plank that she could climb.

Carrying the axe on her back the girl snuck aboard the sailing vessel. She didn't have to worry about making any noise as on the open deck many of the pirates were drinking and being loud.

Spotting the man with long white hair who seemed to be in charge of the pirates that had come to the village she jumped out of her hiding spot and called out to him much to the surprise of the prates on board.

"Hey you! Ugly face donkey neck, are you the captain of this crew? I have a bone to pick with you! "

The white haired first mate and the man with whom he had been talking with turned to look at their party crasher.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked before realizing who had been the one to address him in such a manner.

"Boss this is the vermin I told you about," he said addressing the man with whom he had been talking.

Looking at Piggy, the man didn't even bother getting up from his throne-like chair. "What do you want brat?"

"I want you and your cronies to stop harassing the villagers and to stop causing trouble in town."

"Oh really, well since you asked so nicely, sure we'll leave." The captain said before snapping his fingers.

All twenty five members of his pirate crew ran to the deck to surround the woman holding out their weapons. In response Piggy took hold of the axe she had with her ready for the first hit.

Leaning back in his throne like seat the captain gave her a smirk," You didn't think it would be that easy did you?"

"Yeah, for a moment there I did."

Half the crew had already crossed paths with the young woman and hadn't had much time to recover. They were the quickest to go down as all Piggy had to do was hit them with a couple of swings of the axe and they were down the count.

The remaining half remained cautious having seen what she had done to the shipmates. The captain watched with anticipation as his first-mate stood back.

One of the pirates had gotten in a lucky shot when his chain got tangled with the axe blade and the weapon was pulled out of Piggy's grip to another part of the deck.

Piggy dodge a few punches when she decided to up her game. Though she was still learning how to use her abilities, the female brought out her hybrid form that granted her cat-like features.

Drawing out her claws, Piggy didn't hold back as she took down the pirates. Slashing at their legs and hands many either dropped to the floor or let go of their weapons giving the girl and opening to get them in the groin or stomach.

"Kit kat kick!"

Seeing all of his crew withering in pain, the captain sent his first-mate to handle the girl. The white-haired man leapt at her, throwing sand from his pocket at the girl's eyes.

"Ow! My Face!"

Temporarily unable to see Piggy walked back Only to hit the railing of the ship. The first-mate smirked at the devil-fruit user. "Be a shame if you were to fall into the water, since we both know you would drown."

Swinging his sword at the girl she ducked and ran under his legs causing the man to hit the railing effectively getting his sword stuck . Having gotten her vision cleared Piggy stood up behind her opponent aiming for his back.

"Paw print punch!" She shouted punching the man in his kidneys, causing him to double over in a hiss.

"Alright!" she cheered only to hear the clicking of a pistol behind her.

The captain had his gun pressed to the back of her head. Seeing how easily she was mowing down his crew, the lead pirate found himself having to step in, something he would later punish his men for.

"I'm getting bored with this joke. Do you know I happen to have a bounty of five million berries," Thw captain bragged to the cat-girl.

"Let me show you why they call me 'two guns' Tony" he said clicking a second pistol.

While he was in the middle of his monologue, the yellow-orange cat girl took the chance to wrapped her tail around his ankle. As he kept talking she pulled his leg making the man fall back. The captain scrambled to where his guns had fallen.

Jumping behind a couple of grates, Piggy happened across her axe. The captain shot at the large boxes in an attempt to hit her. After a couple of round, Piggy took the chance to leap out of her hiding spot.

Lifting the axe up, the cat-girl brought the bladed hatchet down with force, landing next to the captain.

"You idiot, I knew you wouldn't land a lousy hit like that on me," the captain said pointing one of his reloaded pistols at Piggy.

"I wasn't trying to hit you," she said pointing at the rope she had cut.

Looking up, in only a few seconds the ship's heavy sail unraveled and fell on the captain.

Despite not being able to recall if she had ever gone sailing. Piggy had somehow known which rope was used for lifting the sail.

Shortly after Piggy found some extra rope on deck and tied all the pirates up. Admittedly the cat-girl found herself exhausted to the point that she returned to looking fully human.

Axe in hand, the young woman proceeded to search the ship for any other pirates that might still be lurking about. Instead of more pirates, Piggy found a room filled with money and valuables and gold.

Among the treasure trove she had manage to find something that stood out. Not only had they taken gold and jewels but they even had a mermaid in their possession locked in a glass case.

Using the hatchet Piggy broke the lock on the glass case. From within the case out popped a mermaid and an large orange starfish wearing a hat.

Seeing the human girl the mermaid had a look of shock consisiting of her eyes popping out with a very wide open mouth that shows her teeth and her tongue sticking out in a zigzag manner.

"I don't believe it! A real-life mermaid! This is so cool!" Piggy exclaimed.

The young mermaid was wearing a cropped t-shirt and carrying a backpack. a She had green hair and dark purple eyes and a pink tail.

"Are you a good human person or a bad human person?" The mermaid asked.

"Um good I guess…"

"Okay" she replied immediate seemingly satisfied with the human woman's answer.

"Wait what about the pirates?" the starfish asked.

"A talking starfish?!" Piggy said in shock.

"Can you help us out of here?"

Piggy agreed to help them off the ship, but not before packing the treasure to take home. _**With this much treasure, mama and papa can retire comfortably** ,'_she thought

When they were outside, the starfish got a look at the clothes their rescuer was wearing. The top she had on had a familiar brand. A logo with a star the word 'Crimin' written underneath the star.

"I see you're a fan.", the starfish who had introduced himself as Pappug said,

"A fan?"

"Don't you know Piggy-chin, Pappug is a designer" said Keimi the mermaid.

"Where did you get that shirt?" Pappug asked.

Looking at her shirt, she had been wearing the top since the day she came to live on Watermelon Island.

"I've had it as long as I could remember…" Suddenly an image flashed in Piggy's head.

 _"Happy birthday!" the figure said handing the girl a pink and white shirt box._

 _Opening it up the young woman was surprised to find the top she had been eyeing for some time._

 _"How did you know?...Were you following me again?" she asked taking out the shirt nonetheless._

 _"Did it ever occur to you that I'm just that good at picking out presents," the male figure countered, though they both knew that wasn't the case._

 _Giving the figure a hug, she looked up. "Thanks for the present."_

 _"Hey hurry up after I'm taking you to Sabaody Park," the figure added._

"Hey are you okay? You just sort of stood there for five minutes staring into space."

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she looked at the two. "Yeah I'm fine. You two should get out before I send this boat adrift."

The mermaid and starfish leapt into the water.

"Thanks for the help Piggy-chin!" Keimi yelled giving her a quick wave before diving into the water.

Taking up her axe Piggy cut the rope line that kept the pirate ship tethered to the shoreline, sending the ship adrift. _**They won't be sailing anywhere anytime soon** , _she thought having made sure to wreck their sails, ship's wheel and even managed to damage its rudder.

Picking up the two bags of treasure she had taken out of the ship. Piggy headed back to the other side of the island and the village.

+++++++ Another Mouth to Feed++++++++

Waiting hours in the small cottage located at the edge of the woods, the woodsman and his wife were pacing as they awaited the return of their ward.

"What if they've hurt her Harold?"

Before her husband could answer, the cottage door opened as the topic of conversation walked in triumphantly.

"Mama! Papa! I'm back!" the girl announced as she entered the tiny house.

"Piggy! Thank goodness you're back!" the shorter woman cried as she hugged her adopted child.

"Look what I brought," she said opening one of the bags. The two seniors were in shocked.

"What are we going to do with all this treasure?" the old man asked overwhelmed.

"With this the two of you can retire," Piggy said to the old couple.

A couple of days later the small family three of three were settling into the new house. There was enough money and gold that they moved into a nicer home with a housekeeper to help out around now that Momo and Harold were getting on in years.

Gathered around the dining table, the old couple had bee surprised when Piggy had called a family meeting.

"Piggy is everything alright?"

"I had a memory," she told them

"A memory? Of what?" asked Harold.

Explaining she told them, "Of something from my time before here. I think it might have been of my father though I couldn't remember his face….Oh I did get the name of a place. Sabaody Park, I think if I go there then I might get a clue to who I am. Maybe figure out how I got these powers."

"Where is this Sabaody Park?" Momo asked.

Taking out a book, Piggy pointed out a spot on a map. "It a place on the grand line, and that's where I'm going. Old Man Fisher said he can take me as far as Loguetown and from there I'll find a ship that can take me to the Grandline."

Seeing the sad look on their faces, Piggy got up and hugged the two short people. "Don't worry I'll be back once I find the answers I'm looking for."

Piggy had made up her mind and had a dream, to find out who she was and discover the true about her origins.

++++++ Another Mouth to Feed++++++

"And that's where you met Monkey D. Luffy!" Raj exclaimed. "Right?"

"Wrong!" Zelda said correcting the boy.

"What do you mean?" he asked

"As a matter of Luffy wasn't the first of the Strawhat pirate I met, he was actually the second," Zelda clarified.

"So who was the first?" he asked wondering who could have Zelda or Piggy as she was called at that time could have met if not the captain.

"Well…"

++++++ Another Mouth to Feed++++++

"Be quiet you dumb seagulls…."

Water splashed the girl on the beach like an alarm. Sitting up, Piggy found herself on the shore in the sand.

"Where am I?"

 _"Looks like the weather is getting pretty rough," Piggy commented. "Maybe we should head for an island and wait for the storm to pass."_

 _Hearing the click of a pistol the blonde turned around and found old man Fisher pointing the loaded weapon at her._

 _"I wouldn't go trying anything if I was you girly," the fisherman warned._

 _Turning her head sideways in confusion she looked at the old man and his three sailors who joined him on deck.._

 _"Um what are you doing?"_

 _"Why taking you for ransom of course, you didn't really think I would take you all the way to Lougetown for free did you? I heard how that old woodsman suddenly struck it rich and thought why not take some of that gold for meself."_

 _The old fisherman had been so preoccupied with his kidnapping scheme that he forgot about the storm brewing outside._

 _A large wave came and knocked over the fishing vessel dropping all those aboard into the sea. Everyone scrambled for the surface._

 _"Where's the girl?" the old fisherman asked trying to stay afloat among the rough waves._

 _As someone who had eaten a devil fruit Piggy couldn't swim and was paralyzed in the water. The girl began to drift in and out of consciousness. 'I didn't even make it one day on my journey…' she thought._

 _Unbeknownst to her, Piggy was saved by someone whom she had met not too long before. Keimi the freed mermaid had been swimming by when she saw the human person falling deeper into the water. To her shock it was her rescuer._

 _Taking hold of the girl the mermaid brought her to shore after rescuing her from a watery grave going as far as to resuscitate her using a technique she had seen other human people do._

 _Keimi would have stayed longer but Pappug hurried her back to the water when he spotted other humans._

Looking around Piggy didn't have much with her. Aside from the clothing she was already wearing and the axe hat had been strapped to her back Piggy had lost all her money and extras she had packed in her knapsack.

 ** _Looks_ _like I'll have to find another way to get back to sea,_** she thought bitterly as she got up walked to the nearby town.

After asking the locals a woman had given her some information."There aren't any inns but a couple people in town could probably rent you a room for the night. Here a friend of mine might have room."

Piggy looked the name on the slip of paper.

'Food Foo'

* * *

 **Thanks to everyone for reading**

 **Any comments or questions feel free to leave them in the review.**

 **Thank you to GodzNo, animegal1998and likeI'lltellyou for reviewing.**

 **Thank you to Puddykatz, Wizard Alchemist, FROSTDRAGON4875, Laughing White, and Bape for favoriting.**

 **Thank you to Puddykatz, Wizard Alchemist, Cervuss, koreanlover21873, Godzno, LittleAngel2292, camillevedelsby, animegal1998, Fuzzyfest14, Laughng White, Heitor, and chi4ngo for following**

 **Edited on 10/4/2017**


	3. Forget it Jake, it's Shell Town

A/N: This is purely a work of fanfiction. One Piece is property of Eiichiro Oda. Only Zelda/Piggy and all other OCs are mine.

This Chapter is base of a mix of the One Piece Manga and Anime.

Acknowledgments are at the end of the chapter.

"Talking"

' **Thinking'**

 _Flashback_

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

"Food Foo? This looks to be the right place."

Two hours had passed since the time the blonde woman had woken up on the beach and in that time she had managed to gather information including where she was and where she could stay the night.

An older woman had informed Piggy that she was in Shell Town, the location of a small marine base.

" _Thank you Ma'am. You wouldn't happen to know of any nearby lodgings? A hotel? Inn? Bed and Breakfast? Youth Hostel?"_

" _There aren't any inns but a couple people in town could probably rent you a room for the night. Here a friend of mine might have room," she informed Piggy before taking a small slip of paper and writing down the location._

Thus Piggy found herself standing in front of what appeared to be a small pub.

"Hello? Anybody here?" Piggy called out as she entered the empty bar.

Having heard the girl, a woman appeared from the kitchen in the back of the location. "Sorry Miss, but we're not opening for another thirty minutes."

Holding out the note that had the establishment's name Piggy handed the piece of paper to the woman.

"Actually I'm looking for a place to stay and was told you might have a room to rent," she explained to the woman.

Looking at Piggy, the bar owner couldn't help but notice that the girl didn't have much with her aside from the clothes she was wearing and an axe that she was carrying.

"I take it this would be a short stay," she guessed.

Feeling slightly embarrassed Piggy gave a nervous laugh, "Well you see…the thing is….all my possessions were kind of lost at sea…"

"And let me guess that your wallet was among those things," the woman said hitting the nail on the head.

"I don't suppose there is any way you could let me stay here?" Piggy asked not sure where else she could go and hoping she wouldn't have to spend the night out on the street.

Giving it a bit of thought the woman decided to take pity on the younger woman and proposed a solution. "I suppose we could work out a deal. Tell you what, we are in need of someone to fill in as waitress since my previous girl left shell town a couple weeks ago and we haven't found a replacement yet. In exchange I can give you room and board in lieu of payment."

"It's a deal boss lady!" Piggy said shaking the woman's hand vigorously, knowing that she wouldn't get a better deal than the one the woman offered.

Despite not getting paid, the blonde would at least have a roof over her head and food to eat. In time she would find a way to solve her money woes and resume her journey to the Grand Line.

"You can call me Ririka," the woman said preferring that the girl refer to her by her name.

"Okay Rika and you can call me Piggy," she said introducing herself to her new employer and landlady.

"Oh I couldn't do such a thing," Ririka replied not wanting to hurt the girl's feeling.

"Why not? It's my name," Piggy said not finding anything weird about her name.

"If you're sure…Why don't I show you the room where you'll be staying in?" Ririka suggested changing the subject.

Taking her new waitress through the back of the bar, Rika led her up the stairs to the living quarters above the restaurant and to the room that was for rent.

"Awe what a cute room, I love it!"

"I'll let you get settled in and you can come down in ten minutes and we can go over your duties," the older woman said as she let Piggy explore her new room.

Piggy sat down on the small bed. Looking around the room didn't have much aside from the bed and a small dresser.

' **I should send a letter home and let them know I'm okay. The sooner I write to Ma and Pa, the sooner I can warn them about old man Fisher.** _ **'**_ she thought as she laid back testing out her bed.

In truth Piggy did not have to worry about the man who had attempted to take her for ransom as she would find out months later when she met with Harold and Momo once more. Old man Fisher had attempted to rob the ship that had picked him and his crewman from the storm only to end up with a fifteen year sentence in a nearby prison.

' **Maybe I should ask for-'**

Hearing footsteps, Piggy sat up having found her thought interrupted when she spotted someone peaking into the room from the doorway.

She gave a large smile and ran to the door opening the room to the young girl looking in, "Hi! I'm Piggy! I'll be living here for a while so let's be friends! What's your name?"

The young girl was surprised to see the upbeat woman. Most of the people who rented the spare room were travelers who didn't want to be bothered.

Returning the smile, the young girl introduced herself. "I'm Rika and I'm ten years old, how old are you?"

"I'm sixteen…I think," Piggy answered.

"You think?" she asked never having met someone who didn't know their own age.

"Well to be honest I don't know my exact birthday, one of those issues that come with memory loss. I'm probably sixteen or seventeen years old. At least that's what mama and papa estimate."

Unbeknownst to the tall girl at the time, Piggy or rather Zelda as she was actually named, was actually a twenty-four year-old adult. Due to losing her memories and her younger appearance she was none the wiser and continued to believe she was in her mid teens.

"I like your shirt," the young girl said pointing to the top half of Piggy's ensemble that consisted of a t-shirt, cropped pants and ankle boots.

On the pink top was a logo with a star the word 'Crimin' written underneath the star. Piggy had been fortunate to be wearing her Crimin t-shirt as so far it was the only thing she had that had jogged a memory of her past while the rest of her clothing had been lost to the sea.

"Piggy! Rika! Hurry up, we're opening soon!" Ririka called from downstairs.

"We should go downstairs, I still need to learn where everything is if I'm going to be working here," Piggy said.

Grabbing the older girl's hand Rika led her down to the bar, "I can help you, I sometimes help out my mom."

"Really, thanks!" Piggy said happily.

The lighthearted feeling would be gone quicker than either of them expected a few hours later.

++++++ Another Mouth to Feed++++++

A skinny and lanky-looking young man with light blonde hair shaped like a sideways oval on top of his head, a cleft chin wearing dark purple uniforms with white shoes walked in followed by a couple of uniformed men.

Sitting at one of the tables as the men stood behind him, he slammed his fist on the wooden surface.

"What does a guy have to do to get some service around here?!" he demanded.

"Welcome to Food Foo, can I start you with something to drink?" the cheerful voice of Piggy said from beside him.

Despite the man's rude behavior, the young woman made sure to retain a pleasant demeanor, even if she had to fake it with the man in the purple suit.

"It's about damn time! Listen you I- Well hello there," he said getting a look at the waitress.

He hadn't expected to see a new face and a pretty one at that. The young woman had blonde hair tied in two pigtails, that reached her lower back and bangs that frame her face, fair-skinned, and a slender, curvaceous and very well endowed figure.

Turning to one of the marines that had accompanied him he asked "Who is that? She's got some knockers on her…Do you think they're real?"

Not getting an answer he turned to them with an angry expression. "Well?! I just asked you a question!"

' **Is he not aware that I can hear him?'** she thought slightly offended at his comment.

"Why don't I give you some time to decide," Piggy said before turning to leave only to have the man grab her wrist.

"Not so fast cutie," he said smugly. "How about you show me a good time," he said making a kissy face at her and pulling her closer.

Piggy gave him a confused look.

"No thank you, I'm not interested" she said pulling her hand out of the strange fellow's grip.

The man's jaw dropped at the quick rejection, "I don't think I heard you correctly."

"I said No thanks, I'm not interested," Piggy repeated.

Unable to comprehend the man sat up with loud noise causing the other customers to look at the commotion. "Do you know who I am? You're new in town so I'll be nice enough to tell you. I am Helmeppo; My father is Captain Morgan of the Marines"

"And?"

"So that means when I don't get my way, I tell my daddy. And that means heads will start rolling," Helmeppo threatened.

Seeing the trouble brewing Ririka stepped in, "Please have a seat we'll get you a dinner special on the house of course."

Sitting back down the man huffed, "Well that is a given, and make it snappy!"

Pulling Piggy to the kitchen, Ririka warned the girl. "I should have told you earlier. You'll want to be careful around Helmeppo. That boy is a menace to this town."

"Why does he get away with that behavior?" Piggy asked as she began to prepare the food for the order.

"His father is Captain Morgan, the man in charge of the local Marine Base. He is not someone whose ire you want to have. Please be careful," she cautioned the newcomer.

Giving the woman an appreciative smile, Piggy said "Don't worry Ririka; I'm one tough cookie there's no way I'm going to get in trouble anytime soon."

++++++ Another Mouth to Feed++++++

Trouble came quickly to the small pub two day later

Business continued as usual during the lunch hour.

"Welcome to Food Foo, What can I get you?" Piggy asked taking out her notepad. To take down the patron's order.

The man had green hair and appeared to be a muscular young man of average height with lightly tanned skin. Wearing black trousers tucked inside black boots, a plain white shirt with three undone buttons at the collar and his green haramaki.

The young man with green hair sitting at the counter glanced at the menu. "A pint of grog and the house special."

"Sure thing, be right back," she said giving the man a smile.

' **Three swords? Maybe he loses them easily'** she mused as she headed to the kitchen.

A few minutes later the girl returned with the man's order.

"Enjoy," she said placing the food and drink in front. "Here are a couple of extra forks, though cutlery doesn't seem to be an issue for you, ha-ha."

The atmosphere was interrupted.

A wolf broke in and began menacing the people inside the small eatery,

Rika who had been sweeping tried to shoo away the wild animal with her broom

"Stop it you mean old thing!" she yelled at the canine while swatting at it with her broom

Helmeppo walked in brandishing a sword, "Little girl is there some problem with how my beloved dog is behaving?" he asked with a smirk.

Ririka watch with fear from the other side of the bar. "Rika step away, you don't want to het us in trouble," she said.

Hearing the fear in her voice, Helmeppo laughed.

Piggy ran to the front of the bar, to try and help out. "Stand back Rika," she said noticing how aggressive the wolf was becoming.

The girl moved behind Piggy and the blonde stood protectively in front of her young firend.

Piggy smacked the animal on its snout hoping it would be enough to deter the creature.

The wolf bared its teeth growling before lunging towards the girls. Piggy had the serving tray placed in front of her as a shield.

Before the wolf landed he had been struck down A bar stool was thrown knocking out the wolf.

Everyone looked over to see who had thrown the chair. It was the man with cropped green hair in the black bandana.

Everyone whispered as no one would dare stand up to the marne captain's son.

"Who the hell are you?! How dare you touch my pet!" Helmeppo shouted before getting a good look at the stranger. "Wait! You're him, it's you!"

He approached the man seated at the bar. "You're the pirate hunter Zoro!"

"And if I am?" Zoro responded.

Rika was gathered by her mother as Piggy watched the exchange.

"What is a pirate hunter doing defying the marines?!" he exclaimed

"Shut up and let me finish my meal in peace," Zoro said taking a bite.

Not liking how the bounty hunter talked to him, Helmeppo slashed his sword at Zoro, hitting the bar counter when Zoro got out the way and instead lost his sword when the green-haired man kicked the bladed weapon out of the blonde man's hold, finishing things by punching the marine captain's son.

Zoro unsheathed one of his three swords and pointed the tip at Helmeppo's nose. "You're getting on my nerves. You and that mutt of yours"

Despite how scared Zoro made him, Helmeppo came up with a counter to the swordsman's threatening tone. "Hiehiehiehie, you do realize that if my father find out about this he'll execute those three."

Zoro looked over at three women who had worried looks on their faces.

Getting up from the floor he continued, "What do you say to a deal between men? Instead of the girls we tie you up instead? If you survive for one month, I'll let you live as too. Sound fair?"

Putting down his sword, Zoro agreed "One month it is."

"Wait! That's not fai-" Piggy had been about to protest when Roronoa Zoro gave her a warning look to stop.

"Let's get this done with," Zoro said as the two marines grabbed the bounty hunter by his arms with a Helmeppo smirking as he led the way.

That same evening as Piggy laid in her bed she found herself unable to sleep. Her thoughts kept going back to Roronoa Zoro and how he had accepted Helmeppo's deal in order to save the three women.

' **What is this feeling? It's like I'm angry but for someone else…is that a thing? Am I going crazy?'**

No longer able to stand it, the blonde woman had to go see for herself what had happened to the man with three swords.

"If only there was way to sneak in undetected," she said frustrated as she closed her eyes.

Almost as if something clicked in her mind, a sensation overcame Piggy. Her body felt lighter and warmer. Opening her eyes suddenly everything in the room appeared larger.

"What's going on?" she whispered to herself. Looking at her hands she saw paws. Leaping down from the bed she passed by the large mirror in her room, Piggy doubled back. .Staring back at her rather than her normal refection was a cat. Not herself woth cat-like features but an actual cat.

Harold and Momo had told her that when they had found her she had been found in the form of a housecat and without forcing herself she had transformed herself into the form of an animal.

' **I think this might work after all…I should hurry who knows how long I can keep this up'** she thought sneaking out of her room through the window.

Finding the marine base was easy enough as it was the location of the tallest building in Shell Town.

' **They propably have Zoro locked up in there.'**

Seeing the guarded entrance, Piggy headed to the side to fins another way in over the large stoen wall that surrounded the base.

As a cat climbing up the surrounding wall was an easy feat. Piggy utilized her enhanced eyesight to look around in the dark for any marines that could be patrolling the grounds. To her surprise what she ended up spotting was Roronoa Zoro and made her way to him.

As a way to make his punishment more difficult, rather than simply locking the bounty hunter in a cell, Helmeppo had ordered that the man be tied up to a post in the middle of the training ground to suffer under the sun's heat during the day.

"Roronoa Zoro, Are you okay?" Piggy loudly whispered surprising herself when she saw that she could still talk instead of only meowing in her animal form.

Unable to see due to the darkness of the night sky Zoro called out "Who's there?"

"Shush, do you want the guards to hear you," Piggy said in a loud whisper. "It's Piggy the girl from the bar, I came to see how you were holding up. It's not fair that that jerk is doing this to you."

With a serious tone he answered, "This is nothing; I'll make it to the thirty days easily."

"But what about-"

"I won't die," he said interrupting her. "Now beat it, I don't need a kid bothering me."

Piggy couldn't help but huff, "Fine I'll go but not because you told me to. I'm leaving cause I felt like it."

Hearing the sound of approaching guards the girl ran and climbed over the surrounding wall, landing just as voices could be heard on the other side.

' **I'll be back tomorrow just to show him.'**

+++++Another Mouth to Feed+++++

"Piggy look at what I made," Rika said holding up the rice balls for the older girl to see.

It had been nine days since Zoro had been tied up and each night Piggy had gone out to see him. Having practiced her transformation every night Piggy found it easier to transition between her three forms, sometimes appearing as a cat watching from the wall at night and other times as her human self in the daytime when she brought food and water to Zoro.

Each time she did bring him food or water he would reject her offer, claiming he didn't need the help. Despite his protest he had come close to accepting a couple of times.

Having told the young child about her visits to the green-haired man, Rika had wanted to also help the man out of gratitude.

"I'm sure he'll like them." Piggy replied.

"Here I made one for you to try," the young girl said pointing to a third rice ball on a plate.

"I'll have to try it later, it looks like we got a couple of customers," she said walking out of the kitchen.

Piggy approached one of the middle table occupied by two young men. One was a slim, tan boy with black hair under a straw hat wearing blue shorts and a red vest. The other was shorter with pink hair and glasses.

"Hi I'm Piggy but you can call me the girl of your dreams," she said teasingly greeting the two with a smile.

The pink-haired boy couldn't help but blush at the sight of the cute waitress only to receive a strong pat on the back that almost sent the pink haired boy toppling forward had he not been sitting.

"Just kidding," she said giggling. "What can I get you boys?"

"Give me all the meat you have!" the boy in the straw-hat ordered.

Piggy couldn't help but look at the black-haired boy. "I don't think that's possible…."

"Please bring us the lunch special," the pink-haired boy ordered.

"Now that I can do," Piggy said leaving the two to bring them their order.

Walking into the kitchen she saw Rika wrapping up a couple of rice balls. As she got to work on serving the food onto a couple of plates the brown haired child approached her.

"Piggy do you think that we can take these rice balls to Mister Zoro today?" she asked.

Giving it a bit of thought, Piggy tried to recall the guard routine she observed. "I suppose we can go in half an hour."

Thirty minutes later, Piggy had been about to take of her apron to accompany her young friend when the sound of items breaking called her to the dining area of the bar.

Walking back to the kitchen she had a resigned look on her face, "Sorry Rika I;m afraid we'll have to postpone the visit to the marine base."

"Why!?" the girl asked.

Piggy had grabbed a mop and bucket. "I don't know what happen one minute everyone was eating their meal like normal and now there are a bunch of overturned tables, broken plates and spilled food."

Rika watched as the tall woman went through the kitchen door. **'I can't wait until tomorrow, maybe I can go by myself,'** the girl reasoned as she headed to the storage in the back to grab a ladder.

++++++ Another Mouth to Feed++++++

"Sorry about postponing our plan Rika," Piggy said as she backed into the kitchen having finished cleaning up the mess in the dining area.

Not hearing the girl respond, Piggy turned around to find no one in the kitchen. "Rika? Rika, are you hiding?"

Looking around the older woman notices that the rice balls that the child had made were missing. **'Uh oh, don't tell me Rika went on her own. Ririka is going to kill me,'** she thought not wanting to have the older woman angry for not keeping an eye on the impulsive girl.

Going out the back door, Piggy ran all the way to the marine base. Along one of the wall she spotted the familiar ladder but saw no sign of the young girl.

"Rika? Rika are you here?" she called in a hushed tone lest she be heard by patrolling marines. Climbing up the ladder, Piggy glanced over the wall.

Rather than Rika, the person she saw talking to the tied-up man was the boy in the strawhat who had been at Food Foo.

Having exchanged words, the boy in the hat picked up a mashed white lump covered in dirt. **'Those must be Rika's rice balls, I wonder what happened?'**

Seeing no sign of the little girl, Piggy took it as her cue to leave and went back to the restaurant.

Outside the back door in the small alley way, Piggy spotted Rika talking to the small, pink-haired boy who had accompanied the straw-hat wearing teen.

"There you are!" she called running up to Rika and checking to see if she was okay. "What were you thinking going by yourself?"

"Sorry Piggy but I was worried about Mister Zoro and I didn't want him to go hungry," she explained.

"I can't believe marines would act like that. They're supposed to help and protect people not bully and hurt them," the pink-haired boy said voicing his disappointment at the display he had witnessed.

"Who are you?" she asked not knowing the boy's name.

"Sorry Miss, my name is Coby and that over there is Luffy," he said pointing to the boy in the straw-hat who was walking towards the small group.

"Guess what, Zoro ate the rice ball." He told them happily.

Rika couldn't help but smile at the news. "Really?"

"Yeah! He ate it all up!" He told tem sporting a huge grin as he told Rika what had happened after she and Coby left.

"I'm so glad!" Rika seems to be at ease knowing her efforts had not been for naught.

"What exactly happened?" Piggy asked wanting to know what had transpired before she arrived on the scene.

"That big old meaning Helmeppo took the rice ball and spit them out before stomping them on the ground. Then he had one of the marines throw me over the wall but Luffy caught me," Rika explained.

"He did what?!" Piggy exclaimed.

"Isn't that sort of behavior more suited to someone like Roronoa than a marine?" Coby asked.

"He's not bad!" Rika practically yelled at the pink haired boy. Seeing the shocked look on his face Rika explained.

"Everybody in town is afraid of Zoro, but he hasn't done anything wrong. We're the reason he's tied up ," Rika started to say.

"It's true," Piggy added.

"What do you mean?" asked Coby.

Continuing her story Rika clarified. "Captain Morgan's son had a bunch of mean dogs! One of the dogs came into the restaurant and was going to attack me when Roronoa Zoro stepped in! Besides, those dogs were running loose and scaring everybody in town!"

"That's why Zoro's in prison? Because he hurt that guy's dog to save you," Luffy said, showing he understood the situation.

Hearing Luffy put it so bluntly Piggy couldn't help but feel guilty for putting the man in that position and wish she could do more to help than just keeping an eye on Zoro.

"That makes sense, Zoro's really scary but he only goes after people with a price on their heads, and they wouldn't arrest someone for that" Coby seconded.

"Captain Morgan and his son are the bad one!" Rika "They put people to death for no reason at all. Everyone's afraid of them."

Their discussion was interrupted when the sound of Helmeppo's voice broke through. "You're not bowing your heads low enough, scum! I'll tell my father on all of you!"

It was bad enough having him parading through town like he did, but what he said next would draw the groups ire. "Do you want to be jailed like Roronoa Zoro!? We're going to hold a public execution for him in three days! "

"What!" Piggy exclaimed at the news just as Luffy walked out of the alley and approached the marine captain's son.

"But didn't you make a promise to him?" he said having heard about the thirty-day deal from Zoro himself.

Turning to face Luffy, Helmeppo answered his question. "What? Where did you hear that? He's just a stupid beast for believing it! Hiehiehiehie," he laughed not showing any shame for what he was saying.

"How dare you!" Piggy found herself yelling as she walked out of the alley and stood next to Luffy. "You can't do that!"

Her knuckles were turning white as she balled her hands into fist ready to take her anger out on Helmeppo finding it unfair how Helmeppo was acting, having no qualms about betraying his deal.

Sporting a smug look he looked at the woman giving her a lecherous glance. "I might reconsider and let him live an extra day if you spend the night with me."

Before Piggy could hit him, Luffy was punching Helmeppo in the face to the shock of everyone around.

"Luffy! Stop! Calm Down!" Coby cried out holding Luffy back.

"Coby, I've made my decision! I'm going to ask Zoro to join my crew!" He announced.

Luffy's actions caused quite the stir among the towns people who couldn't believe that someone had actually stood up to Captain Morgan's son.

"Luffy stop! Are you trying to pick a fight with the whole Navy!?" Coby cried out to no avail.

Not one to be deterred Luffy declared, "Scum is scum no matter who its father is!"

The marine officers ran to Helmeppo's side to help him up. "Y-You hit me! You actually hit me! "I'm Captain Morgan's beloved son! I'm telling Daddy on you!" he screamed.

"You'll die begging for mercy! You're a walking corpse!" Helmeppo added before running off toward the base with his guards.

Noticing his hat had fallen to the ground in the commotion; Piggy picked it up and dusted it off before handing Luffy his straw-hat.

"It's about time that booger nugget got what he deserved," Piggy commented.

"He wasn't worth hitting," Luffy said fixing his hat on his head.

Rika approached the two cheering, "You were great big bro! I feel a lot better now!"

"Then I wish I'd given him a few more whacks for you," he replied.

Just then Rika's mother came out of the restaurant having heard all the commotion. "Rika! Get Over here!"

Seeing her daughter stay still she came and grabbed her daughter, pushing the girl towards the restaurant. "You shouldn't be talking to that person! If they think you're his friend, they'll kill you too!"

Rika tried to protest. "But Mommy, he's a good man, and Zoro, He's a good-"

Her mother interrupted her before she could finish her thought, "What are you saying!? You didn't go to the parade ground, did you!?"

Trying not to look her mother in the face Rika hesitated, "Um….Well….No-o-o…"

"Hurry up, and get inside. I suggest you do the same Piggy" Ririka cautioned as she looked towards the teen with a worried look before going inside.

"I need to talk to Zoro," Luffy declared as he began walking towards the marine base.

Coby began to shake in worry over what had happened before yelling at Luffy, "They won't let you get away with this! And Captain Morgan has the Marines behind him!"

Piggy and Coby stood in silence as they watched Luffy walk away ignoring Coby's warning, when the pink hair boy finally said "I'm going to help Luffy!"

Leaving her standing in front of the pub, he marched towards the base following the path the other boy had taken.

' **That's all I can stands. I can't stands no more.'**

"Coby wait a minute! I'm going too!" the girl called to the shorter boy having finally made up her mind to go as well. Running to her room, Piggy right away went to look under the bed reaching and pulling out her adoptive father's lucky axe that she had managed to not lose.

"Let's go!" she said as the two ran towards the marine base.

Once the two arrived at the marine base, it wasn't difficult to enter the parade grounds where Zoro was tied up. Piggy was able to easily get to the top of the wall and help the pink-haired boy up as well. The two approached the tied swordsman who gave them a look as if too ask why they were there.

"You shouldn't be here," he warned only to have his words ignored.

Seeing no sign of Luffy, Piggy inquired to his whereabouts. "Where's Luffy? Didn't he get here first?"

"If you're talking about that guy in the straw-hat, he went up there, said he was going to get my swords back for me," Zoro informed them as he looked in the direction of the biggest building on the base.

Coby immediately began to panic. "What!?Luffy went into the fortress!? Why is he so reckless!?"

"We can't worry about that now, first thing we got to do is get cut these ropes," Piggy said to Coby as she held out her axe ready to swing.

"You two are being reckless! What are you two doing here? If they catch you freeing me, they'll kill you!" Zoro said trying to get them to go before they got caught.

Coby didn't hold back his disappointment " They imprisoned you unfairly! I can't stand to see the marines act improperly. I'm going to be a proper Sailor! Just like Luffy's going to be king of the pirates!"

Hearing Coby's declaration, Piggy momentarily stopped. "King of the pirates?"

Normally such a sentence wouldn't have distracted the girl but she had a nagging feeling that the title held some significance to her. The girl was brought out of stupor by Zoro's loud exclamation.

Zoro couldn't help but be stunned unsure if the pink haired boy knew what he was saying, "King of the Pirates? Does he know what that means!?"

Coby laughed, "I was shocked when he first told me, too. But He'll succeed or die trying! That's how he is!"

Before he could say more, a couple of loud bangs were heard as multiple shots were fired. Letting go of the bladed tool, and dropping to the ground Piggy checked herself for any bullet holes, considering herself lucky that she managed to remain unscathed.

The pink haired boy hadn't been so lucky, "AAAAH! I've been shot! AAAH! Blood! I'm bleeding! I'm gonna die!" Coby cried out.

Trying to avoid the line of fire, the girl crawled over to Coby. Looking him over , he didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. While the bullet grazed him enough to cause him to bleed, it hadn't penetrated and organs or bones.

"It doesn't look like they hit anything major," she assured the boy helping him sit up.

Zoro sighed in relief that the young boy was still alive "…God! You're alive! Now get outta here! They're on their way down."

"But…we haven't untied you…." Coby uttered.

Zoro remained stern, "Don't worry about me. I just have to survive the month and they'll let me go. So just beat it—"

"They're not going to let you go! You're going to be executed three days from now!" Coby informed.

Zoro was in shock, "What are you saying!? That idiot promised me! If I survive for a month, I'll be set free!"

Piggy looked up at Zoro, "It's true, we all heard Helmeppo say it. He never intended to keep that promise. That's why Luffy punched Helmeppo, because he found Helmeppo lied to you!"

Zoro couldn't believe it "…! What!?"

"The marines are your enemy now! Please! If I untie you, will you help Luffy!?"Coby begged. "I won't ask you to become a pirate but…Luffy's really strong and so are you! If you team up, you can escape from here! Please Help him!"

Before Zoro could answer Coby's pleas, several marine sailors had made it down to the grounds. "Stay where you are! Captain Morgan has ordered your immediate execution!" one in the front yelled.

Picking up the axe she had dropped, Piggy swung at one of the thick ropes. Now more determine to get him free, Piggy hacked at the remaining bit of rope until she was about to break the wood from the post around his left arm.

"Surround the Fortress! If that rascal in the straw hat escapes, you'll all be sorry!" a voice shouted as a very tall man with blonde hair, a steel jaw and a huge axe instead of a hand.

"Who-who's that?" Coby asked following an audible gulp.

"That's Captain Morgan," Piggy answered having seen the man once in town.

The man pointed his axe hand at the small group. "You brats simple outlaws, are you!?" Captain Morgan accused as he joined the marines that had their guns pointed at Piggy, Zoro and Coby. "You're all trying to overthrow me!"

Captain Morgan stared down the swordsman, "Roronoa Zoro! Peasants and pirates may tremble at your name….but you're no match for me! You may be a barracuda…but I'm a great white shark!"

He then turned to look at the other two near Zoro, "As for your accomplices they'll regret the day they ever agreed to go against me if it's the last thing I do!"

He ordered the men to take aim. "Anyone who misses will answer to me personally!"

Having managed to cut through the rope tying Zoro's left arm, Piggy swung her axe at the rope tying his other arm trying to free him before the marines fired at them.

Watching the blonde try to release his binds Zoro couldn't help thinking to himself, **I can't die yet! There's something I have to do…I promised her! I can't die yet!**

"Fire!" Captain Morgan called out ordering the marines to shoot the trio. Everyone closed their eyes in anticipation for the barrage of bullets.

Suddenly a yell was heard throughout the base "Gum-Gum…Rocket!"

Luffy leapt from the rooftop and landed in front of the group covering them from the bullets that bounced of his rubber body. "Bullets can't hurt me! Shishishishi"

"You!?" Zoro cried.

"Luffy!" Coby cried.

"He's been shot!" Piggy cried.

Piggy couldn't believe what she was seeing. While she wasn't the picture of normalcy what with being able to turn into a feline, seeing a person made of rubber was still quite the sight to her.

"What are you!?" Zoro questioned.

Luffy gave him a smirk, "I'm the guy who's gonna be King of the Pirates!"

Holding out the three swords he had found up to Zoro he asked, "So which swords are yours? I didn't know , so I brought all three…"

Zoro answered "They're all mine. I practice Santoryu—in other words three-sword style."

"If you fight the marines with me here and now, in the eyes of the government, you'll be one of the bad guys!" Luffy told him. "Of course you could obey the law and let them kill you!

Hearing Luffy's words caused Zoro to give a grin, "You must be demon spawn…but I'm not ready to die without a fight! All right! You've got yourself a pirate!"

Happy to hear Zoro would be joining him, Luffy yelled in excitement. "Really!? You'll join my crew!?"

"I don't have much of a choice." Zoro explained.

The marines were standing around dumbfounded that the group was unharmed by the barrage of bullets.

"He's no ordinary human! He's eaten one of the devil fruit…" Captain Morgan explained.

"Done!" Piggy cried excitedly as she finished hacking through the rope on Zoro's other arm, leaving only the rope around his torso.

Noticing what the young woman was up to one of the marine's alerted his commander. "Captain that girl is untying Zoro!"

"Well stop her, you idiots," Morgan ordered. "If bullets can't hurt them, then use your swords!"

"Luffy, help me untie this last part," Piggy asked in hopes that it would free Zoro faster.

"These knots are too tight…" Luffy complained as he complied.

While the two were focused on Zoro, Coby noticed the group of marines running towards the three. "Luffy! Piggy! Watch out!"

Hearing Coby's warning, Zoro yelled to them "Forget the ropes! Give me my swords!"

With his swords in his possession Zoro cut himself lose, just in time to hold off the marines that were piling upon them. Everyone was amazed at the sight of Zoro taking on the group on his own.

"Wow! He's cool!" Luffy was impressed by the display .

Even with the sword in his mouth Zoro's words were clear. "The first one who moves dies."

The marines were appropriately scared by his aura.

While holding back the men Zoro made things clear to Luffy what his condition for joining his crew was. "All right, so I'm a pirate. I gave you my word. I fought the marines; therefore I'm officially an outlaw. But hear this! I have a mission to fulfill. I'm going to be the world's greatest swordsman! All I have left is my destiny! My name may be infamous, but it's gonna shake the world! But you are making me become a pirate! So if I have to abandon my dream for any reason then I'm going to make you commit hara kiri!"

Luffy was more than happy to accept Zoro's conditions. "The world's greatest swordsman, that's great! And it's fitting since your new boss is going to be the king of the pirates! Anything else would make me look bad!"

"Is no one else wondering how he was able to say all that while wielding a sword with his jaw?" Piggy asked only to get a shrug from Coby.

Watching the action unfold Captain Morgan wasn't pleased that it was taking so long to kill the group of teens . "Why haven't you gotten rid of these four!? Hack those brigands into mince-meat! Now!"

Joining the fight once more Luffy instructed Zoro, "Zoro, Duck!" Swinging his leg he called out his attack. "Gum-Gum Whip!" sending several of the marines flying.

"Wow! He's incredible!" Coby said in awe.

"What the devil are you?" Zoro asked.

With a laugh Luffy answered "I'm a rubber man!"

Sneaking up from behind a group of three marines raised their swords toward the rubber man.

"Oh no you don't! Kitty kick!" In a blink of eye Piggy had shifted to her hybrid form of a human woman with cat-like features and with her cat agility had leap and kicked one of the marine into the other two before they could land a hit on Luffy.

Turning around Luffy, Coby, Zoro and the other marines were shocked to see the cat-like woman in their midst.

"Awesome!" Luffy shouted never having seen someone who had eaten a zoan-type fruit before.

"Hey you! I saw that, put that back!" she shouted to one of the marines who tried to take her axe. Leaping over she knocked out a couple more men who tried to shoot her down.

"Captain, they're too much for us!" One of the marines cried. "It's hopeless! We can't fight a rubber man, a cat woman and that demon Roronoa Zoro at the same time!"

Angry at the thought of losing , the marine captain yelled at his men. "Hear me! All you cowards who were whining just now will shoot yourselves in the head."

Everyone was shocked at the marine captain's order. "I won't tolerate defeatist in my outfit! On my order…fire!"

The men reluctantly grabbed their rifles and placed them against their temples choosing death rather than the wrath of Morgan.

"Hey! I'm your enemy, try putting me to death!" Luffy yelled as he ran to punch Captain Morgan in an effort to stop the man.

"You have neither rank nor status! I'll teach you to defy your betters!" Morgan came running towards Luffy. "I'm Captain Axe-Hand Morgan!"

Unfazed by the marine Captain Luffy Jump up and avoided the giant axe, kicking Captain Morgan in the face.

Not taking the hit well, Morgan growled out, "Boy …I sentence you to death!" He brought the axe crashing down only to miss again.

"I'm not going to die." Luffy told him kicking him again in the face knocking the man to the ground. Grabbing the marine captains shirt, he declared "You and your marines are ruining Coby's dream!"

"Stop! I said stop you idiot!" a man's voice yelled.

Helmeppo had appeared at the scene holding a gun to Coby's head. "One false move and four eyes gets it! If you even blink I'll shoot!"

Not willing to be a victim Coby yelled out, "Luffy! Don't let them win because of me! Let him kill me!"

With a smile Luffy responded "You're a good guy Coby! Hey Idiot-son-of-the-captain! Coby means it!"

Helmeppo was angry that Luffy wasn't bowing down to his words. "Hey! I told you not to move or I'll shoot! Fine I'll just shoot him then."

Before he could pull the trigger, the gun had been stolen from his grip. "What?! Where'd it go?!"

A Few feet away stood the cat-girl with the gun in her hands as she took out the bullet. "Now's your chance Luffy!"

Luffy smirked not needing to be told twice. Luffy wound his arm to hit Helmeppo. "Gum-Gum Pistol!" Luffy hit Helmeppo square in the face separating him and Coby.

From behind Captain Morgan raised his axe above Luffy. "You've assaulted a marine officer!"

Thinking he had Luffy caught off guard, Morgan aimed for the rubber-man's head. Zoro had been quick making it in time to cut the marine captain down saving his new leader's life. "No Sweat Captain."

The father and son pair were both unconscious in the ground near the group of Luffy, Zoro, Piggy and Coby.

In all the excitement Coby nearly fainted, but was caught by Piggy who held him against her chest. "Are you okay Coby?"

"….so soft," he said in a haze, only to quickly realize what was happening and push himself away from Piggy so the girl wouldn't see his blushing face. "I'm fine thank you."

Zoro turned to the remaining marines. "Any of you still want to capture us?"

To their surprise, the marines cheered at the defeat of their captain. "Hmph, They're happy we defeated their captain ," Luffy observed.

Coby cheered, "That means Captain Morgan was ruling by fear!:

Their excitement was cut short when Zoro fell unconscious to the ground.

"We bring him to the bar," Piggy suggested as she turned him over to check that he was breathing. Upon picking him up she nearly gagged at the smell of his body odor, "While we're at it we should get him a bath."

++++++Another Mouth to Feed++++++

Upon their return to Food Foo Piggy had return to her human form much to the starwhat wearing boy's disappointment.

Having explained the situation to Ririka and Rika, the bar owner was more than willng to let the boys rest and recover at the establishment.

"Wow Big bro that was incredible!" Rika exclaimed having heard the story of what had happened from Luffy. "Where's big brother Zoro?"

Fielding the question Piggy replied, "He still upstairs getting cleaned up, actually I should go check up if any of his busies need tending to."

Ririka handed a small first-aid kit to the hourglass shaped girl telling her, "When you're done you can have something to eat since the foods almost done."

Opening the door to the upstairs bathroom Piggy found the swordsman with his shirt off as he splashed water on his face. Almost immediately Piggy Covered her eyes and turned around, hitting the doorframe "Ow! My face!"

Quickly apologizing she shouted, "Sorry! I didn't know you weren't dressed!"

Unable to stop herself, the girl peaked through her finger, letting her eyes rove over the swordsman's body. Despite having gone several days without water or food his body and muscles seemed in pretty good condition. It took all her self-control to keep from drooling.

While her previous identity as Zelda was no stranger to the opposite sex, as far as Piggy knew she had never seen a grown man without clothing. Even though Zoro had only removed his shirt, her heart was beating like crazy.

"Would you say you're an average example of your gender?" she asked.

Giving the question some thought he answered her. "I'd say above average."

Zoro looked at her, "Did you need something?"

Snapping back to reality, Piggy held up the first-aid kit "I thought you might need a bit of patching up."

Zoro let Piggy clean the cuts and apply medicine to the bruises before bandaging the rest of his torso. Once done Zoro put on his washed shirt, ready to join the others down in the restaurant for some much needed nourishment.

Piggy was cleaning up when she said out loud "Can I just be upfront and say that I visually enjoy you."

Zoro wasn't quite sure how to react and simply said "Thanks?" Finding the girl slightly weird he chose to leave her alone and went down to satisfy his rumbling stomach.

"I'm stuffed!" Zoro announced happily. "Not eating for nine days was worse than I thought, "

"See, you'd never have survived the whole month," Luffy said with his mouth full of food.

"Funny from the looks of things, you would think it was you who had been tied up," Piggy quipped as she picked up the empty plates to wash.

"It's kind of you to feed me along with the heroes' ma'am," Coby thanked Ririka.

She replied, "It's the least I can do, you guys saved the whole town!"

Zoro put down his drink, "So what's next?"

"We're headed for the grand line!" Luffy answered excitedly.

Hearing their travel plans Piggy almost dropped one of the plates she had been cleaning. **'If they going to the Grand Line maybe I can ask for them to take me to Sabaody Park on their ship…'**

Coby spit out his water, "That's suicide! There are only two of you! If you go there, you'll just be sailing to your deaths! The most bloodthirsty pirates in the world are there!"

"Three, there's three of us," Luffy clarified much to everyone's confusion at who was the third person.

"Piggy will be part of my crew," Luffy said in between bites.

"Wait….what just happened? Did I just become a pirate?" Piggy asked.

After having seen the girl's ability there was no way Luffy wasn't going to have her join his crew. Even if he hadn't discussed the matter he assumed the Piggy would come along.

"I thought something like this might happen, Rika get the bag," Ririka asked her daughter. The young girl returned with a small satchel and Piggy's axe.

"There's a couple of extra clothing and some snacks," Rika explained.

Despite having only known the mother and daughter for less than a fortnight, Piggy couldn't help but tear up touched that they would look out for her. To their surprise Piggy gave the duo a big bear hug even lifting them of the ground.

"Well I guess if we're after the 'One Piece' the Grand Line is where we have to go." Zoro reiterated already accepting the blonde as his new crewmate.

"Zoro, You're agreeing with him!? Piggy say something to them," he begged the girl hoping she would knock some sense into the other two.

"What do you care, you're not coming with us." Zoro reasoned.

"No, but I'm worried about you guys, is that so wrong!? Can't I worry about my friends?" Coby explained. Piggy couldn't help but be touched that the boy would show such concern to those he barely knew.

"Luffy, we haven't known each other very long, but we're friends aren't we?" He asked with a hopeful look.

Luffy laughed, "We're going our separate ways but we'll always be friends."

"You're the first real friend I've ever had…no one else ever stuck up for me, even I wouldn't stick up for me," he said with a tear in his eye. "But you taught me to fight for what I believe in."

"What about your plans?" Zoro asked. "You were the cabin boy on Alvida's Pirate ship." He reiterated from the story Coby had told them regarding how he and Luffy met. "Watch out for the marine's background check. If they find out about your time on a pirate ship, they won't enlist you," he explained.

Before Coby could say anything, a group of marines entered Food Foo. "Excuse us, you lot are pirates, Correct?"

"That's right; I even have a couple of crewmembers now! Which makes me a genuine pirate captain!" Luffy answered.

One of the marines stepped up, "Um…you saved our base and this town and we are truly grateful to you. However we're still Marines and we can't shelter pirates. I'm sorry but we have to ask you to leave." Sensing their hesitation, he added "To show our gratitude we won't report you to the Marine headquarters,"

Understanding Luffy got up, "I guess we'll be going then. Ma'am thanks for the meal…" Piggy grabbed her things giving Rika and her mother a small smile as she and Zoro got up as well.

"Luffy…You're leaving already?" Coby asked. Rather than answer the trio walked passed him.

"Aren't you going with them?" The marine asked Coby.

With a frown he answered "I…I'm not one of them!"

"Is this true?" the marine asked

Luffy knew he had to make it look like they weren't friends, if Coby was going to have chance at his dream. " I know all about his past, See there was this secret island and a big pirate woman, her name was Alvida..."

Coby was starting to panic, he couldn't believe that Luffy would do such a thing as ruin his chance with the marines. "Shut Up!" He yelled punching Luffy in the jaw.

Luffy smirked knowing his idea worked. Keeping up appearances he punched Coby back and added a few extra hits for good measure.

The marines weren't convinced but were willing to look the other way. "Enough! Stop disturbing the peace! It's clear that you're not friends!Please leave Town! Now!"

With a smile the trio walked out of the restaurant. "That must have been tough for you Luffy," Piggy commented.

"That was some pretty bad acting though. I wouldn't be surprised if they saw through it" Zoro commented.

"I know Coby will get in." Luffy said.

"Well it's a good time to be leaving, everybody hates us, that's the way pirates should leave a town." Zoro said as the group walked down to the docks.

"So where's your boat?" Piggy inquired.

Pointing to a small dingy Luffy said, "Right there."

"This is your ship?" Zoro asked. "It's puny-looking can it even hold three people?"

Piggy was starting to rethink whether or not to go with the two boys. She thought about finding another ship heading for the grand line, **'But who knows how long that will take...'**

"L-Lu—Luffy!" Thank you very much, captain Luffy! I'll never forget all you did for me!" Coby yelled having appear to say farewell to the pirate with a salute.

With a large grin Luffy got into the dingy followed by Zoro and Piggy who began to unfurl the small sail. "We'll meet again Coby!"

To the group's surprise the marine officers came out and stood behind Coby saluting as well.

"We're on our way to the grand line!"

"Piggy, steer us to the next Island!"

"Aye, aye captain!" Piggy answered.

* * *

 **Thanks to everyone for reading**

 **Thank you to Trafalgar Neo for reviewing and for the advise, you were right about changing the font/paragraphs to make the story flow better, if you have any more tips I would appreciate the help ^_^.**

 **Thank you to Puddykatz, Wizard Alchemist, FROSTDRAGON4875, Laughing White, Bape, elladu64 and BubblesTheMonster for favoriting.**

 **Thank you to Puddykatz, Wizard Alchemist, Cervuss, koreanlover21873, Godzno, , camillevedelsby, animegal1998, Fuzzyfest14, Laughng White, Heitor, chi4ngo, Emerald180, elladu64, kerveillantremi, Gameprince33, Loveisforever12, CupcakeLoopy, BubblesThe Monster and Fish57 for following.**

 **Edited 10/4/2017**


	4. The Circus is in Town

A/N: This is purely a work of fanfiction. One Piece is property of Eiichiro Oda. Only Zelda/Piggy and all other OCs are mine.

Again I do not own One Piece, Bleach, Bob's Burger, and any other pop culture references, etc..

Acknowledgments are at the end of the chapter.

"Talking"

' **Thinking'**

 _Flashback_

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

"Onward to the Grand Line!"

"Aye-aye Captain!"

 **Two Days Later**

"I'm Starving! Piggy, I want food!"

"The person who ate all the food has no right to complain!"

In the short time the trio had been adrift at sea all their food rations had been depleted, the majority of it consumed by the young boy in the straw-hat, Monkey D. Luffy.

A chorus of stomachs growled in tandem as the three occupants of the small boat felt the strain of hunger and thirst.

The young woman especially felt the empty feeling inside having gotten used to having three square meals a day since the day she had been found by the old woodcutter and his wife on Watermelon Island and then in the employment of the owner of the small bar in Shell town.

"Zoro! I'm hungry, steer this boat to the nearest port," Piggy ordered.

Instead of complying Zoro remained rooted in his spot.

"I don't know where that is," the swordsman told her point blank.

"Luffy show Zoro your map so he can sail us in the right direction," she said turning to the other male in the boat.

Luffy instead shrugged his shoulders, "Don't have one."

"Compass?"

"Nope."

"Transponder Snail?"

"Nu-uh."

"Smoke signals?"

"Don't think so."

"Do you have any way of indicating where you are?" Piggy asked only to receive a shake of the boy's head.

"Don't you think it's strange that you can't navigate?" Zoro, the green-haired swordsman, asked changing the subject.

"Not really, drifting has worked pretty well for me so far." Luffy replied.

"Too bad you can't drift us somewhere that has a café or a restaurant," Piggy commented.

Zoro opened one of his closed eyes and looked in the direction of the girl. "You're one to talk. Don't you know anything about sailing?"

Piggy contemplated the question. As far as the amnesia plagued woman could tell the only other time she had been out at sea was on the ride from Watermelon Island to shell town and even then she had been on the boat for less than a day before the she fell in the water in a storm.

"Not as far as I know, at least I don't think I do….I have been on a boat once, of course learning about sailing takes a backseat to getting away from kidnappers…," she answered causing the older boy to raise an eyebrow at the rather odd answer.

"What about you?" Luffy questioned Zoro. "You're supposed to be the holy terror of the seas!"

"I don't recall ever calling myself that." He informed them. "I followed a Pirate I was after out to sea, but couldn't find my way back to my village. So I made the best of things. I went after Pirates that were in the area. I had to earn money somehow."

Her jaw dropping in shock, Piggy said out loud what both she and Luffy were thinking. "So you've been lost this whole time!"

"You don't have to put it like that!" the former bounty hunter protested.

Directing his attention towards Luffy, Zoro added "Anyway what kind of Pirate Captain are you? Not knowing how to navigate a ship it's ridiculous."

"Luffy, we need a navigator!" Piggy declared. "And some other people!"

"Who did you have in mind?" Zoro asked.

"Besides someone who can take us where we want to go, we should find someone who can cook or at least can make a decent sandwich and someone who knows about boats and a doctor would be good too."

Counting on his fingers Luffy began to account for the current crew he had. "We have a Captain, a swordsman and a pet; I'd say that a pretty good start."

"Wait…Pet?" Piggy gave the young captain a confused look. While her role hadn't been discussed when Luffy conscripted her to his crew, the eater of the cat-cat fruit was surprised that the black-haired teen had designated her their pet.

"We should get a musician!" Luffy added.

"Ooo a musician, how fancy" Piggy said forgetting that she was in the middle of her own story.

The trio's antics stopped from hearing their stomachs growling a symphony. All three fell back to the bottom of the boat in hunger. "I'm Starving!" they all said in unison.

"Hey…It's a bird…." Zoro pointed out ten seconds later spotting the flying creature above them. "It looks pretty big…"

Suddenly Luffy sat up quickly "Let's eat it!"

Prompted by hunger Piggy egged the boy on as she shook the rubber man and pointed at the bird. "Quick get it Luffy, before it gets away!"

Sighing Zoro shook his head at the other two's antics, "It doesn't look like we'll be eating that bird. We're down here and that thing is all the way up there."

Not one to be deterred, Luffy prepared to launch himself into the air. "Leave it to me! I'll catch it! Gum-Gum Rocket!"

Before Zoro or Piggy could say a word, Luffy was flying towards the bird. At first it looked like Luffy would actually manage to grab hold of the large bird, only for the pirate captain to end up being the one grabbed by the bird's beak.

"What!?" Zoro exclaimed. "That idiot!"

Looking for the boat's oars Piggy started to get panicky, "We have to get him! If he falls in the water he'll die! Hurry Zoro!"

Zoro didn't need to be told twice, grabbing the oars from the girl; he began rowing to catch up with the bird that was flying away.

"Stroke, Stroke," she called out to keep him on pace. Piggy had to admit that she was impressed with the speed that he rowed not thinking it was humanly possible for someone to go at such speeds.

As they went after the bird, they heard shouts coming from the water. "It's a ship! Hey, Wait!"

"Shipwreck survivors? At a time like this?" Zoro questioned.

"We don't have time to stop for floaters. You have to keep rowing," Piggy instructed knowing time was of the essence.

"We can't stop! Just grab on and climb in!" She yelled out to what they now saw was three men in the water. As Zoro rowed by, the three men amazingly did as she instructed barley able to grab hold of the speeding dingy.

"Hey!" one of them said holding out a small knife, "Stop this ship. We're pirates of Buggy the Clown!"

The three men tried to threaten the pair causing Zoro to stop chasing Luffy. Not one to be harassed by a bunch of thugs, Piggy held up her hand stopping Zoro from getting up.

"I got this," she said letting him know before preceding to beat-up the three man with nothing but her bare fist.

After a minute with Piggy all three man had their hands up in surrender. "Please Stop! We beg of you! We can't take no more!"

"You three get rowing!" Piggy ordered.

Despite the beating they had just received, one of them challenged the younger looking woman. All the pretty girl had to do was lurch forward causing the three men to wince and quickly pick up the oars.

"Good news, Zoro. These three have offered to take over for you," she said sporting a large grin that sent shivers up the rescued men's spine.

"Wait Zoro? You don't mean Zoro, the Pirate Hunter?!" One of the three cried.

Not only had they ended up in on a boat where they were under the thumb of a scary teen (or what they assumed was a teenager based on her young appearance) but they happened on a boat with the famed bounty hunter on board.

Zoro looked at them with a serious face, "You three jokers made us loose our friend."

The three quivered before they quickly started rowing as Piggy had ordered them to do. "We're sorry, Mr. Pirate hunter Zoro, Sir! We didn't realize who you were! If we had we wouldn't have threaten you and your companion!"

Taking a seat next to Zoro, Piggy decided to ask, "So, how did you three end up in the middle of the ocean to begin with?"

Almost immediately all three pirates began shouting of a woman having tricked them and taking not only their treasure but their small ship as well. While she left them with ship a small storm destroyed the vessel. "….And that's the whole sad story! Just awful isn't it!?"

"Amazing, "Zoro commented. "She used the weather to her advantage. She must really know the seas…"

"If we could meet her, she'd make a great addition to the crew as our navigator," Piggy mused.

The three men rowing were of a different opinion. "We think she'd make a great corpse!" said one. "If we return empty-handed, Buggy will be furious!" one of the other added.

Raising a brow in curiosity Zoro inquired about their boss. "Who's this Buggy guy anyway?"

"Only the most ferocious pirate in these parts. Haven't you heard of Buggy the Clown?"

"… _and that kid Buggy thought he was so smart switching the fruit for a fake one, guess he wasn't as sneaky as he thought, haha," the man said in a nostalgic tone._

" _Then what happened?" asked the young child._

 _Patting the child on her head with his large hand he said, "Last I heard he was still causing trouble…"_

"Buggy? Does he have a large red nose and blue hair?" Piggy asked snapping out of her stupor as she snapped back to reality.

Hearing her description one of the men questioned her in return, "So you do know the captain."

"Not really I just knew it…somehow…"

Hearing the name, Piggy could have sworn she had heard the name somewhere before. It was vague but there was a feeling in the back of the blonde's mind that there was something important related to the name but try as she might all the girl got was a headache.

Not long after the group reached the docks of a small island.

"This is it, Mister Zoro sir." One of the men said out of breath at the amount of energy put into rowing the small boat to Port Town.

"Thanks fellas you were a real help," the tall female said with a large smile as Zoro helped her disembark while the thee pirates tried to catch a break.

"There isn't really anyone around," Piggy observed noting the empty market and streets that were on the other side of the docks. .

"It's like a ghost town. Where is everyone?" Zoro inquired.

"Well you see Mister Zoro sir, we've taken over the town," one of the exhausted pirates explained.

"Take me to your captain," Zoro ordered. "Maybe he knows where we can find Luffy."

' **Maybe he'll have some food too,'** Piggy couldn't help think as the rumbling in her stomach came back once more.

"I keep feeling like there's something important I should know about their captain but I never heard of him until an hour ago…" Piggy muttered as they followed the three pirates from Buggy's crew. **'Maybe I shouldn't have left my axe on the boat…'**

"So do you know this guy or not?" Zoro asked listening to his companion murmurs.

"I guess I could have, there a lot of things I don't know about myself," she answered. "At most I can only remember things from a month ago. You see I have amnesia so I there are a lot of things I don't know remember."

"That would have been good to know two days ago," he said considering that the girl kept such a detail to herself.

With a snap of her finger, Piggy remembered one detail about herself. "Sometimes thought I kind of close my eyes, and, uh, an image appears in my brain."

"That's called 'Having a Though,' Piggy," he told her wondering how the girl had made it so long.

"I don't expect you to understand," she said with a bit of a huff before walking ahead of Zoro causing him to give her a side-eyed glance.

The group neared the main street of the town when they heard yelling coming from the direction of the town's tavern.

"You tried to make a fool of me! For that you die!"

"Die!"

"No Way! I'll never give up!"

"That last one sounded like Luffy! Zoro, he must be up there!" she shouted pointing to the top of one of the larger structures on the street.

"Up there on the roof is the boss and it sounds like something big is going on," one of the pirates informed the duo.

Giving each other a look of conformation, Zoro untied the three swords from his side while Piggy changed from her human form to that of a human-cat hybrid wherein she gained the features of an orange cat.

"C'mon Luffy's in trouble!" he said as he leapt ahead.

"Right behind you," she told the swordsman as she followed him up to the building's rooftop using her cat-like agility to leap to the top of the tavern.

Reaching the rooftop, the scene consisted of several pirates aiming their attack on a young woman with orange hair on one end while on the other side there was a large cage housing the young straw-hat pirate.

"How many pirates does it take to handle one girl?" Zoro asked rhetorically as he landed in front of the young woman saving her from the onslaught of pirates.

"Feline Flip!"

Piggy called out her attack as she grabbed the arm of one of the armed pirates coming towards Zoro from behind and sent him flying towards three more men knocking out the four attackers.

"Zoro! Piggy!" Luffy called out glad to see his companions arrive.

"Luffy are you okay?" Piggy asked as she approached his cage.

"I'm glad you guys found me! Now get me outta here!" he yelled.

Complying with his wish, Piggy began to untie him from the rope that bound him. Using her sharpen claw-like nails the low-quality rope was easier to undo than the rope that the marines had used on Zoro that was so thick she had to use a sharp blade to cut through it..

"Always goofing around…" Zoro chastised. "First you fly off with a bird and now you're playing in some cage…Fool."

"You might want to find yourself better playmates next time Luffy," Piggy added fiddling with the cage's lock to no avail.

"Those are the crewmates he was talking about…Talk about a weird bunch not to mention one of them is Zoro the pirate hunter? How did that happen?" The red-head asked herself as she looked over the swordsman and the cat-like girl with orange ears and tail.

"So you're Roronoa Zoro, eh? You must have come to capture me!" Buggy said speaking to the green haired man.

Not bothering to look at the clown pirate, he answered "I gave up pirate hunting. I have no interest in you."

"Well I'm interested in you." Buggy reiterated. Taking out a knife he added "Killing you will be a nice feather in my cap. Give me all you got Pirate Hunter, because I'm about to get a look at your blood! "

"You asked for it!" Zoro unsheathed his three swords before cutting up the pirate. "That was almost disappointing…"

Around them Buggy's crew simply stood around with smirks on their faces, laughing. Seeing the worry on Nami's face Piggy asked "Is there some kind of joke we missed out on?"

With Piggy distracted, Luffy called out to Zoro. "Hey Zoro! Get me outta here."

Assessing the bars of the cage, Zoro knew he couldn't do anything about it. "These Bars are too thick for me to cut through."

"Hey you guys we can't open it without the key. Can we please have it?" Piggy asked of Buggy's crew thinking they would give her the key if she asked.

Instead of handing the blonde a key to the lock, her request was met with snickers and smirks. Hearing laughter from the group of Pirates, Piggy noticed something moving. The flash of movement triggered the memory.

" _He thought he was being sneaky switching the real fruit with a fake one, but in the end he wound up consuming the real thing," the man said slightly laughing at the misfortune that had fallen the crew's cabin boy._

 _The girl although slightly distracted by the bowl of ice cream in front of her looked up and asked "What kind of fruit did he eat? Was it like my Cat-Cat fruit?"_

" _No, Buggy ate the Chop-Chop fruit, In other words he's a man that can never be cut down."_

"Zoro behind you!" She called out, but was too late.

A knife had pierced Zoro's side before the green-haired man could get out of the way. He tried to swipe at the hand holding the short blade only to have it float back to its owner.

"The chop-chop fruit! That's the devil fruit that I ate! You can slice and dice me, but you can't kill me! I'm a chop-chop man!" Buggy yelled out loud bragging with a boisterous laugh.

"Chop-Chop man? That guy's a freak!" Luffy exclaimed.

"You're one to talk gum-gum man…" Piggy couldn't help but mutter considering that both she and Luffy had eaten devil fruits themselves.

"Roronoa Zoro you never had a chance. Looks like I missed your vitals…but you still took a serious hit!" Buggy boasted.

Piggy ran over to catch Zoro as his slightly swayed from his injury. Blood continued to flow from the knife wound and had begun to seep out of his mouth.

"Stabbing someone in the back, that's fighting dirty! You hear that, Big Nose!?" Luffy yelled at the other Captain. Calling the pirate on his large nose, all of the crew gasped in shock that someone would say it to their captain's face as mention of his facial feature was taboo.

"You Fool! That's the one thing you never-" The shorter female tried to warn them.

"You dare to call me 'Big Nose'?" Buggy screamed in a rage, throwing his hand with a knife towards Luffy.

To everyone's shock Luffy managed to catch the knife in his teeth. "I swear I'm gonna clobber you."

"Gyahahahaha! Clobber me! Don't make me laugh! You four are about to die." Buggy declared.

To the clown pirate's annoyance Luffy responded with a laugh. "Shishishishi! No way! I'm not gonna die!"

"And just how do you intend to clobber me now? Ain't that a laugh boys?" Buggy turned to face his crew as they all cheered their captain.

"Run you guys!" Luffy yelled telling the others to leave him and go,

The young red-head stood in shock, "What? They'll kill you the moment we go."

Zoro stood still for a moment as he understood what Luffy meant. "Oh…Gotcha…" he answered releasing himself from Piggy's hold as he ran towards the cannon.

"Wait got what?!" Piggy exclaimed standing still as she did not understand what was going on she watched Zoro run towards the large cannon that was pointed at Luffy's cage

"Roronoa Zoro! You won't get away that easily! Chop-chop cannon!" Buggy's hands went flying towards the swordsman as Buggy tried to cut him.

Making it to the cannon, Zoro lifted and pointed the open end in the direction of the pirate crew.

"Light this thing!" he yelled.

Not needing to be told twice the girl that had been by Luffy lit the fuse on the other end of the cannon. Before Buggy knew what was happening at his cannon known as a Buggy ball was flying in the direction of the clown-like pirate and his men.

Watching the pirates scramble about, Zoro fell to his knees from the fatigue. "Now's our chance, Who are you anyway?"

"I'm Nami…A thief," the red-head said hesitantly said introducing herself.

"Actually she's our new navigator" Luffy declared.

"What are you talking about?! Are you crazy? And shouldn't you be trying to get out of that cage?" Nami yelled as she was declared a member of Luffy's crew without her consent.

Holding out her hand to the fourth member of their small crew, Piggy greeted the teen. "Nice to meet you, I'm Piggy! I love showers, and mornings, and bologna, and turtles."

"Save the introductions for later," Zoro huffed the pain getting to him. Pointing to Luffy he added, "You just stay in the cage."

"You're not going anywhere," a voice called out as the dust was starting to clear up showing Buggy approaching the group.

Not wasting anymore time Zoro grabbed the cage and lifted Luffy's prison from the ground to everyone's astonishment.

' **How much does he bench-press? That cage has to weigh hundreds of pounds,'** the navigator couldn't help think as she watched in astonishment.

"Zoro, don't do this! Your guts will squirt out!" Luffy warned.

Undeterred Zoro answered "Then I'll just have Piggy shove'em back in! I can do things my own way! So don't give me any lip about it!"

"Come on, let's get away as far as we can, " Piggy urged grabbing Nami's hand in her own as she dragged the other girl with her and followed after Zoro who still managed to run at a fast pace even while carrying the large object.

The group had made it to a few houses away from the tavern. Feeling he had come as far as he could, Zoro put down Luffy's cage in an alley where they all were hidden while waiting for Buggy's crew to pass.

++++++ Another Mouth To Feed++++++

"This should be far enough from that tavern. They probably won't catch up to us for a while. Zoro you should take a break before you kill yourself," Piggy mentioned.

"I'm fine," the green-haired teen countered.

Putting on her best authoritative tone Piggy wagged her finger at him. "Put that cage down, before you kill yourself mister."

"What are we gonna do about this cage?" Zoro asked as he set down the cage and fell from exhaustion. "…Got to ….Rest…"

"We need to get you patched up; you've lost too much blood." Piggy said looking him over. While the knife had missed any vital organs, the blood loss was significant enough to harm the swordsman.

"Just do the same thing you did back at the restaurant," Zoro said nonchalantly despite hid pain.

Piggy couldn't help but slap the boy on the side narrowly missing the gash. "Wha… I can't just slap on a band-aid and put some ice on it. You might as well ask Luffy to fix you up."

"I can't do anything stuck inside this thing," Luffy said in frustration not understanding that Piggy wasn't serious in her suggestion that he be the one to take care of Zoro.

Before the older girl could correct Luffy's assumption, a small bark alerted the group to the presence of an old dog.

"What's with the dog?" Piggy questioned wondering how they had missed the canine in the time they had been there.

"Dog? Hey a dog! Is it real? He's just sitting there…" Luffy mentioned before he decided to poke the animal in the eye only to have the dog bite his nose in retaliation.

"Luffy you can play with that dog later!" Piggy admonished as she crouched near the dog that refused to let go until she asked the dog to do so leaving the black-haired boy with a sore snout.

Nami approached the trio. "Look at you three. Not to criticize but…is the middle of the street really the best hiding place you could come up with?"

"Hey it our navigator!" Luffy called out forgetting about his throbbing nose.

"I never agreed to that!" Nami said once again.

"Welcome to the crew Nami, I look forward to our thirty-year business relationship," Piggy said with a quick wave. Quickly whispering "Trust me it's better to just not fight it."

"In any case I just wanted to thank you for saving me." Nami threw a key to the group.

"The Key! You stole the key to the cage!" Luffy was ecstatic as he had his freedom back.

Acting cool on the matter the red-head played off the act as no big deal. "Yeah, sure I got the stupid key, but I had to leave behind the map and all the treasure."

"Then the rescue was a success after all," Zoro uttered.

Before anyone could use the key the dog swallowed the piece of metal. For a moment everyone stood in silence, jaws on the floor at the dog's actions.

"Cough it up! That's not food! Gimme that key!" Luffy shouted as he wrapped his hands around the dog and began strangling the pooch in hopes of getting the animal to spit out the key.

"Damn whippersnappers! Don't you pick on poor old Chouchou!" a voice reprimanded.

Turning around the group found an old man dressed in home-made armor and carrying a spear on his back standing before them.

"Chouchou? Is that your name boy?" Piggy asked the dog directly getting a bark in response.

"Who are you old man?" Zoro questioned.

"I'm the mayor of this town, that's who. Boodle is the name," he announced himself.

"Mister Mayor, Please help us our friend been hurt," Piggy said asking for the old man's help.

"I'm fine…" Zoro told her before she cut him off,

"No you're not. People who are fine don't have blood stains all over their clothes," she said.

"Come with me and bring your friend," Boodle motioned for her and Zoro to Follow. "My house is nearby, you can check on him there."

Piggy lifted Zoro over her shoulder and carried the boy despite his protest, as she followed the old man.

"We have a doctor at the refugee camp," Boodle offered thinking it would be a better idea.

"I don't need a doctor, just some time to rest." Zoro told them.

"At the very least we should clean you up." Piggy said, before turning to the mayor. "You wouldn't happen to have a first –aid kit in your house?"

At the mayor's house, Boodles had provided them with some water and clean cloths before he went back to where Chouchou and the others had been waiting.

While she wasn't a trained nurse, Piggy felt that she managed to not make things worse as she finished cleaning the injury and had actually managed to stop the bleeding. Perhaps she had been a doctor in her past, she silently mused.

In truth, before she had lost her memories, Piggy or rather Zelda as she was known then had become an expert in treating small injuries after seeing her share of bar fights back on Sabaody.

"Not bad for someone who doesn't have the slightest clue what they were doing," Piggy said mentally patting herself on the back as she continued to poke at Zoro's stab wound.

"Stop that!" he yelled grabbing her wrist to stop her from trying to touch the wound again.

"Fine just get some rest. You hear me mister! Don't make me come back here or I'll bend you over my knee like a child," she warned pointing her index finger like she had seen her foster mother Momo do many times to the woodsman when he refused to listen to her.

Leaving the older teen to rest, Piggy looked around the home. Her eyes landing on a small refrigerator she looked inside for some food.

"I'm sure Mr. Mayor won't mind if I grab a bite to eat," the girl said to herself in an effort to justify her looking through the old man's pantry.

Most of the food seemed edible so Piggy grabbed what she could carry.

Twenty minutes later, the cat-girl found herself returning to the spot where her captain remained encaged.

"Piggy you have some jam on your face," Nami pointed out the blue stains on the older girl's cheeks. "How's your friend?"

"Well Zoro wasn't feeling too well so I made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich but he didn't want it so I ate it. He was still in pain so I made him another one but he didn't want that one either so I ate it. Anyway, I left Zoro to rest for a while and Mister Mayor you're out of peanut butter."

Upon hearing Piggy say the words 'Peanut Butter' the dog couldn't help but bark in her direction.

"Peanut Butter is one of Chouchou's favorite treats," Boodle explained as he placed a bowl of food in front of the old pup.

"Why's Chouchou the only one left in town?" They asked.

"He's guarding the shop! I just came to feed him," he explained as he pointed to the pet food store that the group was standing in front of

"A good friend of mine owned this store. About ten years ago he and Chouchou opened this little shop. They've got a lot of memories here. See those wounds on Chouchou, he's been fighting the pirates…protecting his store."

"I'm sure this shop means a lot to his master, but this is just cruel. Is his owner at the refugee shelter?" Nami inquired.

Shaking his head no, the mayor clarified, "No he's not, he got sick and passed on. He went to the hospital three months ago."

"Poor thing, has he been waiting for his master this whole time?" Nami asked.

"I don't think so, Chouchou is a smart dog I think he knows that his master's dead," Boodle told them.

Piggy couldn't help but ask, "Then why does he still guard the store?"

"It's his treasure," he answered. "I think he still guards the store because it's all he has left of his master. I've been trying to get him to shelter but he won't budge."

Suddenly a loud roar resonated interrupting the conversation as everyone covered their ears.

"What's was that?!" Piggy asked slightly freaked out by the monstrous roar. "Do you have monsters on this island? Like a dragon or a kraken?"

"It must be Mohji the lion tamer! Run!" Boodle said before he and Nami took off not wanting to be around to have the member of Buggy's crew find them.

Seeing the two run off, Luffy called after them, "Hey! Come back here! Where are you guys going?!"

"Chouchou please give us that key," Piggy pleaded with the dog wanting to get away before the animal that made that roar got too close only to get a bark as her answer. **'It's times like this I wish I could speak with animals…'**

"Well, well, what have we here?" A large shadow blocked the sun as the largest lion they had ever seen approached with a man riding atop the large beast.

"I'm Mohji, Buggy's first mate and this is my lion, Ritchie. They call me the Lion Tamer. Captain Buggy's pretty worked up; you guys stirred up a real hornets' nest."

"What's with the weird costume?" Luffy asked pointing to the man's haircut that resembled a bear.

"What! This is my hair!" he replied offended by the remark.

"That just makes it weirder," Luffy told him.

"Luffy you probably shouldn't go insulting the guy with the giant lion," Piggy warned _,_ **'Even if it is true'** , she thought.

"You don't know who you're messing with," Mohji boasted, "There's not an animal alive I can't control."

In an effort to demonstrate his skill, Mohji shouted commands to Chouchou only for the dog to bite the Buggy pirate's hand instead.

Angry at the canine's defiance tossed Chouchou away from himself. Piggy had managed to catch the dog, before setting him down.

"You okay Chouchou?" she asked receiving an acknowledging nod from the pup that seemed to be answering her.

"Ha, that dog got ya!" Luffy sneered at the lion-tamer.

"Tell me where Roronoa Zoro is or that girl is going to end up as Ritchie's afternoon snack," he threatened as he pointed as the young damsel.

"Don't say anything Luffy," Piggy said standing in front of her captain's cage, letting Luffy know she wasn't afraid of Mohji.

"Then die! Get them Ritchie!" the first mate ordered the lion who launched himself in the duo's direction.

Jumping out of the way, the lion bit Luffy's cage instead of eating the girl. Piggy rolled as she landed.

"Luffy!" Piggy cried out his name worried the lion had eaten the boy as she picked herself up.

"I'm Free!" Luffy shouted moving out of the way as the lion threw his cage aside only to end up throw along with the metal box in the direction of one of the buildings.

"Luffy! Where are you?! Are you okay?" she asked as she searched through the rubble for the boy.

Climbing out of the wreckage Luffy was undeterred, "I'll show these clowns and make that thief Nami, Our navigator."

The two were approached by Nami and the mayor.

"Hey Kid! You're alive! How could you survive that?" the old man questioned.

Luffy shrugged it off. 'It's no big deal."

"But how?" Nami questioned. "Your body demolished a building and you walk away without a scratch. That's crazy."

"Why did you come to this town? To take on the pirates?"

Luffy answered, "I just after a map of the grand line and a navigator."

Seeing that Luffy was fine Piggy brought his attention back to the situation. "We should go get Zoro before that weird guy with the lion does."

The mayor interjected "Are you crazy?! If that lion finds you again it will eat you alive."

"All the more reason to hurry," Piggy said grabbing Luffy to take him to boodle's home where they had left Zoro.

The two were almost at the mayor's house when Luffy stopped causing Piggy to turn back, "Luffy what-"

She didn't have to finish her sentence as the smell of smoke entered her nose. Looking in his direction she saw what had stopped the captain. The pet shop was on fire and in front Chouchou was barking at the loss of his treasure.

"That poor doggy…." Piggy couldn't help but feel sympathy for the dog; she had been about to approached when Luffy grabbed her arm.

With his face in a serious expression Luffy gave her an order, "Piggy, go get Zoro."

"But what about you? What are you gonna do?"

"I have some business to take care of." He told her, without having to say much more as the girl understood.

Glancing back once more she saw Luffy approached the burning building as the dog barked in tears before continuing on to the mayor's house.

Inside the room she had left him in, the young lady found Zoro still asleep in almost a coma-like state. Piggy tried shaking him awake but only received the sound of snoring in return.

"Wake up! Zoro, you have to get up!" She tried once more to no avail. "Geez what it going to take to wake you?" Piggy asked herself.

Knowing she couldn't waist anymore time, Piggy decided that her first priority was to get him out of the house. After she could worry about waking him. Quickly the woman checked his sound to make sure the bleeding had stopped before attempting to lift him. Fortunately Piggy had no trouble lifting Zoro from the bed as they went downstairs. It had taken a few minutes but the two were at the front door.

Once outside, Piggy made sure to close the door so if the Buggy pirates started search they wouldn't be tipped off that someone had been inside. Her effort had been for nothing as the moment she took a step from the door a huge explosion sent both her and Zoro flying towards the ground.

+++++Another Mouth to Feed+++++

"My House! It's Ruined!" Boodle shouted upon seeing the wreckage caused by one of the cannon shot of a Buggy ball.

"Zoro was sleeping in there! Piggy went in there to get him," Luffy informed the other two.

Nami was worried. "Could those two have survived that?"

Luffy called out "Zoro! Piggy! Is anyone alive?!"

Piggy slowly opened her eyes as she felt disoriented from the blast. It took a few seconds but the ringing in her ears began to die down as her vision began to settle. Looking around she noticed the debris of glass and wood and checked herself to make sure she hadn't gotten seriously hurt. For the most part she had managed to make it out unscathed as had Zoro as she saw him sit-up having finally returned to the world of the living.

Her hearing slowly came back as she heard Zoro speak. "That's one heck of an alarm clock."

Everyone was surprised to see Zoro and Piggy alive and kicking. "How could anyone live through that?" Nami asked rhetorically.

As she picked herself up Piggy couldn't help but listen as the mayor made his declaration. "That does it I won't take this sitting down! I'm the Mayor! I won't let them wreck years of hard work! It's time to fight!"

Nami tried to stop the old man, but it wasn't working. Instead the mayor shouted as he ran down the street, "Buggy the Clown, Prepare to face the mayor!"

"Things are finally going to get fun," Zoro said not showing much concern for the state he was in feeling better after his nap.

"Shouldn't we go after him, before he gets himself killed?" Piggy asked as she watched the old man run off.

Luffy laugh assuring her, "Don't worry, I like him. I won't let him get killed."

"What do you get out of this anyway?" Nami asked.

"We're headed for the Grand Line, we'll get that map back and then we can go there together," Luffy answered her. "Join up with us. You want that map and all the treasure, right?"

Not answering yes or no, Nami made a compromise. "Let's just say we'll join forces and work together for a common goal for now."

As the four headed in the direction the mayor did, Nami was surprised to see Zoro coming along. "You're coming too? What about your wounds?"

"They got better," he told her. Nami looked over at Piggy to see if it was true, getting a subtle shake of the blonde's head indicating it wasn't true but hinting that there would be no way of deterring the moss-haired man.

Putting on his bandana Zoro added "Besides I'm more worried about my reputation than my guts right now. I've got a score to settle."

The four arrived just in time as Luffy took Buggy's hand of the mayor's throat. "I'm back! I told you I'd clobber you."

"I don't believe it!" Buggy cried. "This time you won't escape me!"

"Have fun fighting, I'm just here for the map and treasure," Nami told the group.

Piggy approached the mayor as she helped him up. "You young whipper snappers…you're outsiders…not your fight! This is my battle."

The mayor grabbed hold of a spear that he had with him, attempting to make another run at Buggy. Before he could move, Luffy had pushed him and banged him against a wall, knocking the old man out.

"Why did you do that to the mayor?!" Nami questioned.

"He was in the way." Luffy said as he handed the man over to Piggy to keep an eye on.

"Good thinking," Zoro commented, "He would have gotten himself killed…He'll be safer unconscious."

Turning his attention back to Buggy, Luffy called him out. "Hey You! Big nose!"

Everyone looked at Luffy as they could only think him insane. "Luffy do you really want to make the guy with a cannon pointed at you even more mad?" Piggy asked knowing he wouldn't really answer her.

"Kill him! Give'em the Buggy ball!" Buggy ordered as his crew sent a cannon ball flying towards Luffy.

Piggy grabbed the mayor and carried him out of the way as Zoro and Nami also moved to avoid getting hit leaving Luffy standing with a determined look.

"that measly cannon ball isn't going to work on me." Luffy told them.

"Gum-Gum Balloon!" Sucking in air Luffy's stomach began to inflate. The cannon ball bounced back as Luffy sent the ball in the direction of the rooftop where the Buggy pirates were gathered.

"That evens the odds a little. Let's get them."

"Wow. I thought there was something strange about you, I mean, you did pile drive a lion!" Nami couldn't help buy comment. "How did you inflate yourself like a balloon?"

' **Wait'** , Piggy thought, **'When did Luffy pile drive a lion?!'**

Piggy thoughts were interrupted as the debris began to move, revealing Buggy and some of his crew.

"It's the kid in the straw hat! Watch out Captain Buggy! He's a rubber man!" The lion tamer told his captain.

Buggy finally understood, "A devil Fruit! That's why my Buggy ball bounced off of him. Mohji if you knew that why didn't you tell me!" he said as he threw the lion man towards the Luffy and the others.

Taking the spear that boodle had in her hands; Piggy smacked the incoming pirate as he flew past her.

In that moment Buggy's second mate came running towards Luffy with his sword in hand only to be stopped by Zoro who had drawn his sword.

"If it's a sword duel you want, I'm your man!"

In that moment, Zoro's wounds began to bleed out once more. "Zoro, Maybe you should rest. Let me handle him," Luffy offered.

Taking advantage of the green haired man's distraction the Buggy pirate blew fire in his face, and kicked Zoro in the spot he had been stabbed knocking the swordsman down.

"That's dirty! You're aiming for his injuries!" Nami called out as the man, Cabajii, once again aimed for the injury. "Zoro's hurt badly, how's he supposed to fight?"

"How can you just stand there and watch your friend get killed?" Nami asked Luffy and Piggy. Piggy had been tempted to get involved in Zoro's fight but held back when she remembered something Harold, the old woodsman had told her.

 _During one of the first times she had accompanied Harold into town they had come across a bout of two men with the larger man standing over the smaller one, barley standing._

 _Piggy had been about to step in and the stop the fight when the old man kept her from getting involved._

" _Stop Piggy. I know you want to get involved but look at his eyes," he said pointing out the look the smaller man had on his face as he stood up._

 _The man had a look of determination showing that although he was hurt he wasn't close to giving up._

" _Know this Piggy; there are two kinds of fights. As long as we place ourselves in battle, we must always know the difference, a fight to defend life or a fight to defend pride. If you step in know, that man's pride will never recover."_

Piggy knew if she got involved while it would keep him from worsening his injuries, his pride as a swordsman would be hurt.

Just as it looked like Zoro would be in serious trouble, he got up and stopped the other man's blade. "You're a very annoying person… I hope you enjoyed kicking my wound," he said before taking his own sword and gave himself a slash on his abdomen.

"My goal is to be the world's greatest swordsman. Is that enough of a handicap for you?" Zoro asked. "Now I'll show you some real Swordplay."

In that moment Piggy's worry for the man disappeared as she couldn't help looking in awe, "Wow he's so cool."

"Get him Zoro!" yelled Luffy sharing the same sentiment.

"I can't lose, not even once to anyone who calls himself a swordsman," he declared.

The other man was clearly intimidated but did his best to hide it, "So you injured yourself as an insurance for your reputation, well don't worry, Your wounds are severe. They'll make an excellent excuse when you lose."

With his determination back Zoro was ready once more. "If I lose to the likes of you when my wounds are only this light then I may as well give up on my dream right now."

Piggy attention was moved from the fight as Nami brought something to their attention. "That shack that was ruined is where they keep all their treasure and Buggy's probably got the map of the grand Line. I'll get their treasure and make my escape. I've got to do it now while they're knocked out."

"What about joining my crew?" Luffy asked.

"If you get that map from Buggy then I'll consider teaming up with you again," She told them before heading to the tavern.

"Have any clue how you're getting that map Luffy?" Piggy inquired.

"Nope," was all he told her before they watched once more to see how Zoro was faring.

"Luka will take care of problem sword man," spoke a man in a thick accent.

Luka, the strongman as he was known came to the forefront distinguishable by his leotard and the large bulk he showed off.. the pirate was the biggest among the crew towering over the clown and the rest of the Buggy pirates. He was bald the only hair on his head was part of his rather large handlebar mustache.

"Luka hold Zoro down so that Cabaji can finish him," Buggy ordered of one of the crew to remain standing.

While she was willing to let Zoro participate in his sword fight, if there was to be any unfair play she was going to stop it. Turning to the cat-hybrid, Piggy ran towards the strongman and jumped on the man's back trying to stop him by putting him in a head lock but found the man's neck too thick to get her arm completely around.

"Not so fast you big meanie!" she yelled in his ear as she dangled of the larger being.

"Luka has no time for play little girl" the man said speaking in the third person. Grabbing Piggy by the tail he plucked the smaller woman off of himself and tossed her to the ground.

Checking that her eye glasses were still intact the blonde sat up from her spot on the ground.

Not giving up, Piggy found some rubble from the damaged streets. Grabbing the bigger pieces she began to throw them towards the man. At first he continued as if he felt nothing until one of the biggest pieces hit him square in the head.

"Puny Kitty. Luka will brake you," he said before turning to her instead of the sword fight.

Seeing the circus themed pirate skulking towards her, the cat-hybrid only had a few seconds to come up with a counter attack.

' **I have to time this just right,'** she thought to herself barley having time to enact her plan as Luka loomed above her. **'Darn it, why did I leave my axe back in the boat?'**

Just as the strongman, raised his fist to land a blow on the girl who had consumed a devil-fruit, her tail moved throwing up a mix of sand and dirt up at the pirate's eyes. While he tried to stop the stinging sensation all Luka heard was a shout.

"Kitty Cat Kick!"

Down went the member of the Buggy pirates as his hands went to comfort his crotch. Piggy had aimed the kick to the man's groin, putting enough force into the kick that the eight-foot tall man fell over in pain like a giant log.

"This kitty's not so puny now is she?" Piggy asked her opponent as she stuck out her tongue at him only to received a pained groan in response.

Hearing the sound of fighting, Piggy turned her attention back to the others.

With a swift Kick Zoro knocked the clown's crewmate off of his unicycle. "I'm tired of your stupid circus tricks!"

"Onigiri!" he announced as he slashed the other sword fight with a final blow causing the Buggy pirate to finally fall down.

"But, but how? How could these common thieves have beaten us?" Cabaji question.

Taking of his bandana Zoro corrected him, "We're not common thieves, We're Pirates."

Finally succumbing to his injuries, Zoro fell to the ground. "Luffy….I'm going to sleep now."

Luffy assured his crew mate, "Get some rest, I'll take it from here."

"I'll look after him Luffy, so just focus on beating up that clown," Piggy told her captain as she went to Zoro to make sure he didn't die from his wounds, having herself returned to normal.

"Now hand over the map of the Grand Line!" Luffy order Buggy.

"So that's what you're after. Well a couple of no-name pirates like you wouldn't last a day on the grand Line!" Buggy laughed.

"I'm going to be king of the pirates." Luffy calmly informed him.

"Don't be a fool! The world's treasure will be mine! So forget it!" Buggy said. "You and your straw-hat remind me of him when he was younger…that insolent dog with red hair!"

"Red Hair? You talking about Shanks? You know Shanks?"

Hearing Luffy say the name of the captain of the red-hair pirate, Piggy couldn't help but look in his direction, although she didn't really have any experience of knowledge of pirates as far she knew the blonde couldn't help but feel like she somehow had recognized the name similar to how she had a feeling of having heard of Buggy before their encounter with the clown.

"We're mortal enemies and you won't get any more information from me."

"Well I'm willing to beat it out of you," Luffy replied.

"Ha, you'll be dead, not even rubber can withstand a razor sharp blade. Chop-chop buzz-saw!" Buggy had sent his foot flying towards Luffy only to miss when the boy moved out of the way by jumping up.

Next the clown took out several knives. "Let's see you dodge these in mid-air," he said throwing the blades and his hand at Luffy.

Luffy managed to grab hold of the clown's wrist before the knife could cut his face. "Separate!" Buggy said his hand to come loose from the wrist cutting the edge of Luffy's hat.

"Dam you! You nicked my hat! This is my treasure! Nobody damages my hat!" He yelled getting angrier with the clown than he already was.

Once again Buggy tired to slash at Luffy only for the boy to dodge the attacks. "It's that important to you, eh? Then you should take better care of it," he said before sticking the three knife through the hat that brought it flying back to himself.

"I promised I'd return that hat to shanks!" Luffy shouted.

"this is Shanks's Hat? I thought it looked familiar…Shanks and I worked on the same ship a long time ago." Buggy informed him.

"Don't put yourself on the same level as Shanks!" Luffy yelled as he punched Buggy before the clown pirate could separate himself. "Damn you! You ruined my hat!"

Getting up Buggy looked at Luffy, "Never in my life has anyone made me as angry as Shanks did."

Buggy began to tell the story of how he gained his devil fruit power. As he was finishing up, Nami came out with a bag full of treasure.

"Hands off my treasure!" Buggy yelled as he threw his upper torso toward the red-head. "You won't get the better of me, Nami! I'll cut you to pieces!"

Thinking fast Luffy saw the bottom half of Buggy was near him. Taking inspiration from Piggy, the boy went with a kick to the crotch, stopping the clown from getting to Nami .

"Curse you Rubber man! You fight dirty, attacking my lower half," he couldn't help but let the tears flow.

In turn Luffy reminded the pirate, "Our fight's not over." Turning to Nami he told her to forget the treasure. "He'll keep coming after you."

"Leave the treasure not a chance. I'm a master thief and I stole it. It's mine, mine, mine." She told Luffy causing Buggy to attack her.

The boy was at a lost at how to defeat the pirate that could divide himself into pieces. "His feet don't fly…I got your foot!" Taking the shoe of the foot, Luffy began to tickle the appendage.

Despite Luffy's efforts Buggy continued to aim for Nami. "Hey you're supposed to be fighting me!" Luffy yelled before Kicking Buggy in the face saving Nami.

"Thanks for saving me," Nami said. Seeing all the items scattered Luffy spotted the map.

"It's the map of the grand line!," Luffy cheered grapping the parchment.

"Not so fast Rubber boy! Chop-chop..Huh?" Buggy tried to pull himself together only to find that his hands and feet were the only part that came back to him.

"Is this what you're looking for?" Nami had tied the parts together.

"Good job master thief, Leave the rest to me!" Luffy announced. "Gum-gum Bazooka!"

Luffy sent the clown flying. "I win! Now you'll join my crew right?"

Nami nodded, "For the time being . Looks like I'll make a fortune if I stick with you."

Luffy found his hat that had been lying on the ground, still sporting the holes made from Buggy.

"That hat means a lot to you, huh?" she asked.

Luffy placed the hat on his head. "It's not so bad, I guess. I can still wear it. It sure felt good to clobber that clown."

Luffy approached Piggy and Zoro. "Let's get going."

"Did you take care of things?" Zoro asked as he tried to sit up only to be pushed down by the young woman who was still trying to clean up the cuts on the green-haired man's torso.

"Yeah and I got the map and treasure," Luffy informed them.

"It's no good. I don't think I can walk." Zoro told them.

Piggy gave him a glare that the boys didn't think the peppy girl was capable of. "What did you expect you cotton-headed ninny muggins? Who actually gives themselves a large cut on purpose?"

"It's hard to believe you're all human, " Nami said as she approached the group.

The red-head could hardly believe what she had witness, having seen Zoro's feats of strength, the way Luffy had stretched his body and limbs and even how the girl had suddenly sprouted cat like features.

"What are we going to do with him?" Piggy asked pointing to the mayor who was still knocked out.

"Hey you guys…" The group turned to see a group of villagers approach them. "We're the citizens of this town. What's going on here?"

Before any of them could explain what happened, the villagers saw Boodle lying against one of the buildings. "Mayor, are you hurt? It must have been those lousy pirates."

"No it wasn't, I knocked the old man out," Luffy informed them.

"You did this to the mayor!? Who are you?" the citizens inquired.

"We're pirates," Luffy told them honestly.

"You idiot!" Nami yelled.

"Run!" Both Nami and Luffy grabbed a bag of treasure, as Piggy grabbed Zoro's torso and threw the injured swordsman over her shoulder as she ran behind the other two.

"How can you weigh so much?" she huffed.

Luffy simply laughed as the group ran towards the docks. "They're all worked up because they love their mayor, it wouldn't have mattered what we told them."

As the group turned the corner, Chouchou came out and placed himself in front of the villagers. "Get out of the way Chouchou. Those are bad people, why are you helping them?" The villagers shouted.

+++++ Another Mouth to Feed+++++

"That was too close. Chouchou really saved our necks."

As the group approached the small boats, the three pirates that had been picked up by Zoro and Piggy appeared. "We've been waiting for you girlie! We knew you'd come back to the ship. Imagine our surprise, finding our ship docked here."

The three Buggy pirates tried to intimidate the group. As soon as they saw Zoro they gave up and jumped back into the sea. "Oh no! It's Roronoa Zoro! Let's get out of here!"

Once the pirates were out of sight the group of four prepared the two small boats to head back to the sea.

"Everything's ready Luffy, we can take off now," Piggy informed the boy.

Placing himself at the front of the boat, Luffy pointed out in the direction on the open water. "Then set a course for the next island!"

"Hey, Kid ! Wait! I have something to say to you!" Boodle shouted as he appeared at the docks. "Thank you! I won't forget it!"

"You're welcome, Mayor!" Luffy shouted as the boats sailed away giving the old man a quick wave.

Once the two boats were far enough that the islands was barely a dot on the horizon, Nami moved to the side of the boat that was next to the smaller dingy.

"You can hand me back the bag I gave you," Nami said.

Giving the girl a big grin he cheerfully informed, " I don't have it, it's back on the island."

"What ! You left the treasure!" Nami barely processing what the boy in the straw-hat told her. "That was half a million berries I handed you!"

"Yeah but their whole town was wrecked they'll need a lot of money to rebuild it," Luffy explained.

"Aww Luffy, who knew you were so considerate," Piggy teased sporting a cat like grin as she jumped on the boy's back and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug.

Nami on the other hand was then pleased with the teenage boy's charitable act. "That was my treasure you gave away!"

To her surprise Luffy was more than ready to jump ship "What! Let's go back and get it!"

"It's too late! If you ever do anything like that again, I'll kill you!" Nami shouted showing she wasn't one to mess with.

Peeking over the captain's shoulder, the blonde addressed their newest companion. "Looks Like you'll have to sail with us a bit longer Navigator Nami!"

With a look of acceptance, Nami leaned back against the side of her boat, "Might as well stick with you lot for the time being. You guys have anything to eat?"

Piggy and Luffy's faces dropped as the realization hit the two.

"Oh no! We forgot to get food!" Piggy cried shaking Luffy earning her the laughter of Zoro and Nami as the two ships sailed to their next destination.

* * *

 **Thanks to everyone for reading chapter**

 **Thanks to its and to XxSapphireLilyxX for reviewing.**

 **Thank you to Puddykatz, Wizard Alchemist, FROSTDRAGON4875, Laughing White, Bape, elladu64, BubblesTheMonster, EmilyWolf808, XxSapphireLilyxX and PikaxGirl for favoriting.**

 **Thank you to Puddykatz, Wizard Alchemist, Cervuss, koreanlover21873, Godzno, , camillevedelsby, animegal1998, Fuzzyfest14, Laughng White, Heitor, chi4ngo, Emerald180, elladu64, kerveillantremi, Gameprince33, Loveisforever12, CupcakeLoopy, BubblesThe Monster, Fish57, EmilyWolf808, XxSapphiireLiluxX, Booksarelife9, psunshine2 and PikaxGirl for following.**

 **Edited on 10/4/2017**


	5. Mr Story Time - Part 1

A/N: This is purely a work of fanfiction. One Piece is property of Eiichiro Oda. Only Zelda/Piggy and all other OCs are mine.

Again I do not own One Piece, Bob's Burger, and any other pop culture references, etc..

"Talking"

' **Thinking'**

 _Flashback_

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

"Good luck finding the One Piece!"

"Bye Gaimon!" Luffy called out to the man he had met only a couple of hours before.

"Boy it was sure nice of that guy, Gaimon to give us some food," Piggy said.

"Too bad he didn't join my crew, I kind of liked him," Luffy said as the man became smaller in the distance.

After their departure from Orange Town, the two small ships had stopped on what appeared to be a small deserted island. However once on the island much to the group surprise, sans Zoro who remained on the small dinghy asleep and resting from his injuries, the island wasn't as devoid of life as they first thought.

Luffy and Nami took off to explore the island while Zoro and Piggy remained with the boats. During their exploration the pirate captain and navigator came across a man who had lived on the island. Luffy had asked the man to join his crew but had his offer declined as the man, Gaimon, chose to stay on the island to protect the rare and exotic wildlife.

Steering the two small boats occupied by the four pirates, Piggy cleared her throat to get the undivided attention of her crewmates.

"While you guys were exploring I took the opportunity to come up with some ground rules that we should all agree to if we're going to be sailing together," the blonde girl said having had some time to think over her proposal.

"Rules?" questioned Luffy.

"What was that about rules," asked Zoro with a loud yawn as he began to wake.

"I thought it might help to know how we're dividing the work and what our roles are as a crew. Besides I want to contribute something to the group," the cat-girl said.

"You do, you bring us luck. Shanks told me it good luck to sail with a cat and you're going to bring us good luck," Luffy said patting the girl on her head like one would a small animal while grinning at her.

The boy's grin gave way to laughter as the blonde began purring like an actual cat.

"Mmmmm...Hey! Don't treat me like a little kid!" she protested puffing her cheeks as Luffy laughed at the woman. "I'm already Sixteen years old…I think…"

Not remembering her past, the amnesia stricken girl went with the age that her adoptive family gave her based on her young appearance. Due to her young appearance they had estimated Piggy to be in her teens rather than an adult in her twenties.

"Shishishishi, that means I'm bigger than you," the seventeen year-old pirate captain teased.

"Besides I'm not just some pet!" Piggy protested. "I'm the…."

Piggy gave it some thought as to what she could do to contribute to the small group. Luffy was the captain, Zoro was a skilled swordsman and their newest associate Nami would be taking charge of their navigation.

"You're our cabin boy!" Luffy declared.

"Cabin boy?!" Piggy exclaimed.

Joining in with a clearly teasing smile, Nami added "Don't you mean cabin girl Luffy."

Taking her glasses off to clean the lenses a light went off in her head.

"I'm the lookout," she declared proudly. "Even without binoculars or a telescope, I can see stuff from far away when I take off my glasses."

Piggy or rather Zelda had been wearing glasses since she was three years old. She was farsighted, meaning while far away objects appeared normal to the girl, anything close up was a blur. Similarly her father, the famed Silvers Rayleigh also had similar issues with his eyesight and wore similar eyewear.

"And another thing, I've noticed is that when I turn into a cat I can even see in the dark, so I can keep watch at night too," she added.

"That's a good idea and all Piggy, but we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. We can't sail the Grand Line like this," Nami said.

"You're right," Luffy said. "Even though Gaimon gave us a lot of fruit, we need some meat to keep up our strength."

"I'm not talking about food!" Nami exclaimed slightly miffed that the boy was only thinking about his stomach.

"She's right," Zoro chimed in. "We don't have a drop of grog on these boats."

"I'm not talking about booze either!" she yelled at the green haired swordsman.

"We're supposed to be heading for the Grand Line, the most dangerous waters in this world. Not to mention that most pirates are going to be after the One Piece as well. Pirates with big ships. All we have are these small boats and barley a crew. If we go on like this we'll never make it," Nami explained.

"So what do you want us to do?" Luffy asked.

"We should stop and make an actual plan and acquire a proper sailing vessel," Nami told the group. "There's a small village south of here," she said pointing out a spot on the map in her hand that she held up for them to see.

A couple hours later the group reached their destination.

"Land Ho!" Piggy shouted from the front of the boat as the small island came into view.

"What do you know there really is an island here," said Luffy.

"Of course there is," Nami sighed as she stepped of her boat onto solid ground. She had no doubt over her navigation skills. "It's right here on the map."

"Solid ground at last," Zoro said stretching having awoken from his second nap.

"I'm surprised you slept the whole way," Piggy teased. "You even slept through your check up."

"Check up?" he questioned.

Despite her lack of medical knowledge, Piggy had become the default nurse and was the one tasked with keeping the swordsman from bleeding to death after all his cuts and scrapes he received from the Buggy Pirates.

"Which way do we go now Nami?" the girl asked the navigator.

Nami looked over her map, "It shouldn't be too far from the beach."

"What do you think is up with those guys," Zoro asked pointing up a nearby cliff to where a small group was looking at them from a hiding spot. Everyone looked in the direction Zoro was pointing and saw four figures looking at them from behind a log.

Seeing the boys looking at them, Piggy smiled and gave a big wave "Hello up there! Are you the welcoming committee?"

Having gotten caught spying on the new arrivals to the island, the three youngest ran away leaving the oldest boy behind.

"Hey, you guys! Don't run away!" he yelled at his retreating friends. Standing up the group saw a young man with tan skin and a long nose wearing a bandana over his black hair and overalls.

Unlike the other three, the remaining figure chose to confront them face to face. Jogging down a small path to the beach, the boy got a better look at the four pirates that had made landfall.

The first was a teenager with short shaggy black hair, light skin and a scar under his eye, wearing blue shorts, a red vest, sandals and a straw hat atop his head.

Next to him was a slim girl that looked around his age. The pretty girl had short orange hair and brown eyes, and was wearing a white and blue striped shirt-sleeve shirt, short orange skirt and brown high-heeled ankle boots.

Beside the first girl, was another girl who also seemed to be in her teens. The second girl had long strawberry blonde hair and large round glasses. She wore a yellow tank top, capri pants and black flat mary janes.

Last was a boy who looked a couple years older than his companions. The boy was muscular and had green hair. He wore black pants, black boots, a white shirt and a green haramaki.

Going down to meet the pirates the boy in overalls did his best to make an intimidating impression.

"I am the notorious Captain Usopp! Feared pirate and ruler of this village! So you'd better think twice before you invade!" He shouted. "I have eighty million men poised to stop you."

"Really?! That's amazing!" Piggy exclaimed.

"Don't believe him Piggy, He's obviously lying," Nami said in a deadpan manner.

"Darn, she saw through me!" Usopp exclaimed.

"See I told you," Nami said.

"Damn it! I just admitted that I lied." Usopp cried having given himself away to the group.

"Shihihi! You're funny," Luffy laughed at the teenage boy's antics finding the young man to be humorous rather than intimidating.

Usopp couldn't help blushing in embarrassment. He was trying to put on his best intimidating pose and the boy in the straw hat was instead laughing at him. "Hey! Don't laugh at me! I'm a proud man, that why they call 'Proud Captain Usopp'!"

"Excuse me Captain Usopp, is there any place to grab a bite to eat around here?" Piggy asked as her stomach growled in hunger for something other than fruit.

Usopp couldn't help but smile that someone other than his three young members of the Usopp Pirates had actually referred to him as captain whereas most people in the village simply laughed off the introduction.

"Well I suppose I could be generous and grant you permission to enter my village for lunch," he said before leading the group into town.

"Alright! I want meat!" Luffy shouted as they followed the boy in the overalls.

The restaurant was in the center of the village and seemed to be busy with several customers already occupying tables.

"I want all the meat you have!" Luffy ordered, once the group had been seated at an open booth.

"Yes dear, you've made that quite clear. And the rest of you?" their waitress asked writing down the lunch orders as they were given.

"A pint of grog and chicken," ordered Zoro looking forward more to the drink than the actual meal.

"A fruit salad with extra tangerine wedges," Nami added.

"And you dear?" the waitress addressed Piggy.

Looking up from the menu Piggy ordered. "I want chocolate chip pancakes!"

"Um young lady that's more of a breakfast dish," the waitress tried to explain to the young girl.

Not wanting to change her order, the cat-girl said " I know and I haven't had any breakfast yet so I'll have twelve please."

Piggy couldn't explain it but upon seeing the breakfast food on the menu she knew that she had to have a plate of the chocolate infused batter..

Soon enough the food was brought to their table and everyone dug in as Usopp brought up the question that had been on his mind.

"Mind if I ask, what brings you guys to Syrup Village?"

"We're here to restock our supplies and gather a few other things," Nami answered.

"Like a crew," Piggy added in-between bites.

"Really? You're looking for a crew?" Usopp asked.

"A crew and a bigger ship," Luffy said.

"Wow! What a great adventure," Usopp said. "You won't find any galleons in town but there is a place you can go."

"Where?" asked Nami.

"There's a huge mansion that stands out like a sore thumb. The owner of the mansion is a young girl and she's bedridden." He told them.

"How did she become the mansion," Nami asked.

"About a year ago, both of the girl's parents got sick and died. They left her a huge inheritance, a mansion, and a bunch of servants. She's rich and lives in luxury but nobody's more unfortunate than her…" Usopp told the story of the girl.

Piggy couldn't help but look at the boy with her eyes watering. "That's so sad. She lost her family and is gravely ill. Should we still go see her?"

"Forget it," said Nami after a moment of silence. "Let's go find another town."

"Okay," agreed Luffy. "I guess we can spare the time, let's grab some supplies and go."

"By the way you said you were looking for people to join your crew… Well I'm your man, I'll be your captain!" Usopp declared naming himself their leader.

"No thanks!" the four said in unison much to the young man's chagrin. Quickly recovering from their rejection he looked at the clock on the restaurants wall and gathered his things. Usopp left the restaurant stating that he was late for something important.

The group had just finished their meal and were drinking coffee while Piggy had gone ahead and ordered a slice of Strawberry shortcake.

"More sweets?" Nami asked seeing how the girl had just finished a plate of chocolate chips pancakes.

"Yeah, I really like sweets," Piggy answered.

Wham!The door to the food establishment slammed open.

"Usopp's Pirates are here!"

Before the group of young adults stood the three boys that had been with Usopp earlier but had run off at the sight of the pirates.

"Who are they?" asked Nami

"Hey! Where's the captain?" One boy asked. "What did you pirates do with our captain?"

"That meat was delicious!" Luffy said with a look of satisfaction.

"M-Meat?! You don't think he was…." One of the boys said much to the groups of amusement.

Talking advantage of the young boys and their imagination Zoro said " If you're looking for your captain…he was just gobbled up."

"Ogress!" They cried looking at Nami.

"Why are you looking At me?!" she shouted annoyed at their assumption before giving each one a whack on the head.

"It's not funny!" she yelled at Luffy and Zoro who were laughing at the boys.

"Yer cwaptin luft," Piggy said as she ate her slice of cake.

"Piggy don't speak with your mouth full of food," Nami chastised.

"Sorry," she said apologizing before turning to the boys once more.

"Usopp said it was 'Time to go' and he left," Piggy told the boys

"It was probably time for him to go to the mansion," one of the boys explained.

"The mansion where the sick girl lives?" Nami asked.

"Why would he go there?" Luffy asked.

"To tell lies," answered the boy named Carrot.

"Why does he lie to her?" Piggy asked curious as to the reason the boy would do such things, considering he seem like a decent person to her.

The boy named onion spoke up, "They're more like stories ."

The boy named pepper added "He tells them to her to make her happy."

"That's the great thing about the captain, he's a meddler," Carrot said.

"I like that that he's bossy," said pepper.

"He's great because he's so boastful," added Onion.

"Then that girl's spirits must be pretty high," Luffy said.

"Yep, thanks to the captain," Carrot said praising Usopp.

Piggy couldn't help but sigh dreamily, "It sounds rather romantic. I wish I had someone to visit me every day and tell me stories to cheer me up."

"Yep, the Captain sure knows the way to a girl's heart," One of the young boys agreed.

"That settles it, let's ask her to give us a ship!" Luffy declared.

Speaking up Nami said "But we already decided against that idea."

"That was before we knew how happy she was," Luffy answered.

Calling for the check, Nami paid their as she was the only one with money. "You all owe me for your meals."

"Yeah, yeah," the group murmured as they walked out of the dining establishment.

"I'm so full I can barely walk," Piggy said rubbing her stomach.

"What did you expect, you ate enough for twelve people, and had dessert afterwards" Nami said chastising Piggy like a mother scolding a child.

Draping her arms on the shoulders of the person closest to her, Piggy said, "Luffy, carry me."

"Aren't you a little big to be carried around?" Zoro asked the grown girl.

"What are you talking about, me and Luffy are about the same height give or take an inch." she said before shifting into her cat form making her small enough to be held in a person's arms. Having practiced a few more times, Piggy was starting to get the hang of shifting her physical form.

"How about now?" the orange tabby asked as jumped into the straw-hat pirate's arms. Luffy didn't seem to mind as he placed her atop his shoulder.

"Cool!" "Awesome!" "Radical!" the three young boys praised at the same time never having seen a person turn into an animal in their young life.

"That's not what I meant…." Zoro mumbled.

"Where is the mansion that the sick girl lives in?" Nami asked the children.

"We can show you the way," Pepper said as the boy began walking the same path their captain Usopp took every day.

The large estate was hard to miss as the group approached the imposing gates and look behind the gates to see the large house.

"Wow! this girl must be pretty rich to live in a fancy house like that!" Piggy said looking in awe from her spot on Luffy's shoulder. Not even the richest family on Watermelon island had a house as large as the ill girl's mansion.

"Hey You! Give us a ship!" Luffy shouted at the house at no one in particular as there didn't seem to be anyone near the front gates.

"You can stop yelling, it doesn't look like anyone's going to come out," Nami commented.

"Hey! Did you hear me! I want a big ship!" Getting no response, Luffy made the decision to climb over the mansion gates and try his luck at finding someone who could grant his request.

"Are you going to let him do that?" One of the young boys asked as he watch the rubber boy and his cat walk on the other side of the entryway.

"There's no stopping him when he gets like that," Nami answered. Despite having know Luffy for less than forty-eight hours Nami had managed to peg his personality and course of action.

"Guess we'll have to go with him," Zoro said following the black-haired boy onto the property.

Once inside the property the group began to walk the grounds and scope out the property. Walking to the back of the house the band of young people spotted a familiar face, Usopp, sitting under a tree outside of a window where a young woman was leaning out talking with the long-nosed boy. The blond, pale girl seemed to be laughing at something Usopp had said as the boy smiled at the girl proud of his words.

"Captain!" the three boys called out to him getting their leader's attention.

Gasping, Usopp's eyes went wide at the sight of the group of people that had arrived with his young friends.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked being under the impression that they had decided against meeting his friend.

"We brought these guys with us," Pepper told him pointing at the straw-hat pirates.

"Who are they?" the girl at the window asked.

"Oh them, these guys heard of my reputation from afar and came looking for me. They're the newest members of my crew," Usopp said with a smug grin.

Offering the strangers a smile the girl introduced herself, "Hello, I'm Usopp's friend Kaya. I'm happy to meet Usopp's crew."

Frowning, Luffy called out the other boy on his lie. "That's not right! We're not his crew. We came here to ask you a favor."

"A favor?" Kaya questioned.

"Yeah! We want a big ship!" Luffy said without missing a beat as everyone nodded that it was what they were asking for.

"What is the meaning of all this!" a voice shouted before the ill girl could answer. "You are all trespassing!"

"Klahadore…" the Kaya greeted.

"Who's that?" Piggy asked turning her head to look at Usopp.

"Oh no it's the butler," Usopp answered before doing a double take and looking once more at the cat. "Did you just talk?!"

It took Usopp a moment to realize that where had once been another girl, the group had shown up with a feline in tow.

"Well I'm waiting," the man in the servant said awaiting their answer.

Kaya tried to explain the situation, "You see these people they're-"

"Save your excuses for later," the butler said stopping the girl despite his previous request for an explanation.

"You…your Usopp aren't you?" The butler questioned pinpointing the long-nose teen. " Your reputation precedes you….The guards have reported seeing you lurking around the estate. Do you have any business here?"

"As a matter of fact I do, I saw a large mole entering the estate and I'm trying to capture him," Usopp replied.

"You certainly have a gift for telling tall tales," the older man smirked. "That shouldn't be surprising considering who your father is. Your father is a filthy pirate. I suggest you stay away from Miss Kaya. You and Miss Kaya are from different worlds. Is it money you're after? How much do you want?"

Taking offense to what the butler was suggesting Kaya spoke in Usopp's defense. "You've gone too far Klahadore! Apologize to Usopp!"

The man looked at the young woman before facing Usopp again, "I'm only speaking the truth. But I do feel sorry for you having your treasure obsessed father abandoning you."

"Stop bad mouthing my father!" Usopp shouted at the man as he ran up throwing a punch at the butler as everyone looked on in shock.

"I'm proud that my father is a pirate! I'm proud that he's a proud warrior of the sea!" he announced. "You're right I do make up stories! But there's one thing I will never lie about! I'll never lie about my pirate heritage!"

The butler got up, "Lie all you want, /I know you're only kind to Miss Kaya because you after her money. You're trash just like your Pirate father!"

Mad at Klahadore's accusation, Usopp was setting up to give the man another punch stopping only when he heard Kaya crying out. "Stop Usopp! No More violence!"

Looking at the girl's crying face Usopp put down his fist turning away unable to bear looking at the pale girl as she cried.

"Never come back to this estate!" the butler shouted giving not just Usopp but everyone gather in front of the window a dark glare.

"Fine have it your way, I'm leaving and never coming back!" Usopp said walking towards the front gate.

"Get off this property at once!" Klahadore shouted at the onlookers as Luffy and the three young boys began calling the butler names.

Rather than stick around where they weren't welcome everyone soon followed suit and left giving the butler dirty looks as they walked pass him.

"Is your captain going to be okay?" Piggy asked the small;; boys as they head towards the village once again.

"Yeah Captain's a really deep guy," said Carrot

"He very reflective," added Pepper.

"I have to go home, see you later," Said Onion as he ran ahead of the gang.

"I'll be right back," Luffy announced suddenly causing everyone to stop walking.

Piggy let out a small yelp in surprise when she felt Luffy pick her up and place her on the fence next to Nami before taking off on his own without further explanation as the group stop to rest alongside a fence to wait for their captain.

Thirty minutes had passed and there had been no sign that Luffy was on his way back as Zoro, Nami and Piggy waited on the road side with two of the Usopp pirates for company.

+++++Another Mouth To Feed+++++

"I wonder where Luffy went…" Nami pondered aloud.

"Maybe he had an upset stomach, and went to find a toilet" Piggy suggested.

Nami shook her head, "I doubt it, Luffy doesn't seem like the type to have a sensitive stomach."

"If he's not back after an hour we'll go looking for him," Zoro said settling the matter for the time being.

"Waahh!" came the yell of a child. "It's horrible! A backwards man!"

"Hey, it's onion!" Said Carrot.

" And it looks like he has big news!" said Pepper.

Onion, the child who had been screaming, ran up to the small group. "There's a strange man headed this way walking backwards."

"What so scaring about that?" asked Piggy not understanding why such a thing would cause the boy to shout in fear. The cat-girl couldn't help thinking that perhaps, walking backwards was suppose to be a scary visual and she didn't understand due to her memory loss.

Turning to Nami and Zoro she asked "Is walking backwards suppose to be scary?"

The two teen looked at each other before giving a shrug as their joint response.

"Look!" Onion cried out he pointed out a thin man in a hat, coat and heart-shaped sunglasses.

This newfound attention didn't escape the man's notice as he approached the small group. Having heard Onion's remarks he asked "Hey! Who was the one that called me strange?"

"You are a little strange," Nami answered honestly getting a closer look at the man.

"Don't be silly, I'm just your typical hypnotist," the man said to the amazement of the three boys and Piggy who all perked up at hearing that the man was a hypnotist.

"A hypnotist! Can you do any tricks? What do you use to hypnotize people? Can you show us?" the boys asked requesting a demonstration.

"Oh well I suppose a quick demonstration wouldn't hurt…Look at the ring," he said holding up a round pendant on a string. Swinging the pendant back and forth her caught the attention of the three boys and the cat girl as Nami and Zoro watched the show.

"When I say 'One, two, Jango' you'll fall asleep. One, Two, Jango!" Rather than only hypnotizing his audience the man himself fell asleep as he fell to the ground next to the fallen boys and Piggy who in her sleeping state fell of the fence before changing back to her human form.

The navigator and the swordsman had avoided getting knocked out. The two helped the others propping them against the fence and helping them sit up. Less than ten minutes later everyone awoke and the hypnotist had already awoken and left their sight.

The only one who had yet to wake was Piggy

"Hey! Wake up Piggy!" Nami spoke loudly shaking the blonde girl to no avail. "She's almost as hard to wake up as you are."

Zoro gave Nami a raised eyebrow from her comment on his sleeping habit before looking back at the other girl. "Just let her be, who knows what's going on in her head."

++++++Another Mouth to Feed++++++

" _Now the best way is to grab your opponent here and….Z****! Are you listening?" a gruff voice asked._

" _This is boring! I wanna hear about the time you met the minks," said the little girl as she stood up from her chair._

" _I'm trying to teach you something that'll get you out of a tough situation. "the man said._

 _In front of the girl stood the familiar male figure. Although his face was hidden Piggy recognized him as the man who she had seen in her previous memory. Although this time he seemed bigger and had less gray hairs._

 _Beside him stood another figure, with their face also blurred as well. However unlike the first figure, the second person was a woman._

 _The woman petted her on the head as the little girl beamed at the female._

" _Trust me this will all come in handy the next time trouble shows up," the man said._

" _I don't need to know all that, you can just fight the bad people for me, "the girl said._

 _The woman spoke up, "Every girl should know how to defend herself. What are you going to do the day you sail off on without us, you won't be five forever?"_

 _The girl shook her head, "I'm not sailing anywhere, I'm happy here."_

" _Don't you want to become a pirate? Who knows maybe you might become the Queen of the Pirates," the older man teased._

" _I don't care about being Queen of the Pirates, I can just marry the Pirate King, then I can still become Pirate Queen and not have to do anything," the little girl answered the adults as if it were the simplest thing in the world._

" _And how do you know they will make you their your bride?" the woman asked with a hint of laughter._

" _Didn't you say I was the cutest girl in the world?" The girl asked the other adult._

 _The man and the woman looked at each other before laughing. "Of course you are, and it would be really cute if you paid attention to what I was showing you."_

 _Piggy found herself looking at the male figure once more as he performed a movement only to hear the woman say "Wake up…Wake up…"_

"Wha…What's going on?" Piggy asked while letting out a loud yawn.

"Finally," said Nami. "I was worried you were going to end up being a heavy sleeper like Zoro. Are you okay? Your face is red."

Piggy hadn't notice her deep blush. ' **Why is am I feeling so embarrassed I'm sure that was just a memory or even a dream. It's not like I really want to marry the pirate king, I mean Luffy's cute and all but I don't like him like that…do I?'**

A whack to the head stopped Piggy's inner monologue. "What was that for?!"

"We've been calling you several times," Zoro answered having been the one to tap Piggy on the head with the handle of one of his swords.

"Oh, What happened to that hypnotist?" The blonde asked noticing that there was one less person.

Before anyone could answer, they were interrupted as they saw a figure running towards their direction.

"What is that?" Zoro asked only to see that it was the long-nosed boy they had met earlier.

"It's the captain!" Pepper replied.

"Hi Usopp!" Piggy called out

Usopp didn't even spare them a second look as he ran past them.

"I thought Luffy would be with him.," Zoro commented, having inferred from the captain's unspoken intention that he would be going after the teen after he ran off.

"Maybe he's still upset about what the butler said about his father," Nami suggested.

"No did you see his face," Carrot said.

"Something must have happened at the beach," Pepper added.

"He was pale as a sheet!" Onion added.

Zoro couldn't help but frown from their assessment of their leader's demeanor. If what they were saying was any indication, than something was wrong and trouble would find them once more.

"Hey how do I get to the beach?" he asked.

"It's easy, you just go-" Onion began to say before Piggy interrupted him.

"Wait you better lead us there instead, Zoro isn't exactly the best with directions," she explained, recalling how Zoro had told her and Luffy that he had yet to find his way back home.

Nodding the children showed the three pirates in search of their captain. The trio found Luffy asleep face down in the sand.

"Luffy wake up!"

Awakening with a jolt, Luffy got up and found his crew around him. When asked what he was doing sleeping, it took the boy a moment to remember what had happened after he had found Usopp.

"Where's Usopp?! We have to stop those bad guys!" Luffy shouted.

"Bad guys?" Zoro asked.

Luffy explained how after finding Usopp, the two overheard the sick girl's butler with another man and their plan to get rid of the girl to get her fortune.

"What?!" "Miss Kaya is going to be killed?!" "Pirates are really going to attack the village?!" The three boys exclaimed.

"Yup, that's what they said," Luffy confirmed.

"So that butler is a bad guy!" exclaimed Carrot.

"And the hypnotist too!" exclaimed Onion.

"So that's why Usopp was running towards the village in a panic." Nami said now that they knew what had caused the boy to run through the village in a panic.

"What will we do?!" one of the children asked.

"It'll be fine, the villagers have plenty of warning, they can hide out in the hills. Pirates are all pretty dumb," Nami assured having a good idea of how pirates worked.

"We better go hide too!" The boys heeded Nami's analysis and ran towards the village to hide.

"Oh no!" shouted Luffy. "I got to go buy some meat before the butcher leaves town!"

Luffy ran after the three boys following them into the village, followed closely behind by his crew. Not long after the group ran into Usopp who was going in the opposite direction of them.

"Captain! we heard what's going on, we have to hurry and warn the village" pepper said.

Rather than agree with the child, Usopp began to laugh. "I just made all that up as usual. I was mad at that butler so I made up a lie about him being a pirate."

The straw-hat pirates looked over at the boy. Having heard the situation from Luffy they knew that Usopp hadn't invented the story about the butler and the hypnotist. The three young boys voiced their disappointment at Usopp wondering aloud why their leader would make up such a tale. With frowns the three young boys left for the village and headed home.

"You did that to protect them didn't you?" Piggy asked seeing how Usopp expression became serious once his young friends were out of sight.

"Can we talk somewhere else?" Usopp asked the group ignoring the girl's question.

The group settled for the beach and gathered around the story-telling boy.

"It's because I'm a liar. No one will believe me," he stated sadly, knowing it would do no good to try warning the villagers. "But facts are facts and those pirated are coming to attack the village "So it's up to me to fight those pirates! I may be a liar, but this time my tale will come true! This village is my home, and I've got to protect my neighbors!"

Hearing Usopp declaration, a silent agreement passed between the pirate crew as they all exchanged looks.

"You've got a good heart, you sent your crew away so you could face the danger alone," Zoro said breaking the silence.

"We're going to help you," Luffy informed him volunteering their services.

"Kicking Pirate booty! Alright!"cheered Piggy.

"I'm telling you now, all the treasure is mine," Nami called out.

Usopp couldn't help but look at the crew in awe "you guys are willing to fight beside me? Why?"

"You're hopelessly outnumbered right?" Luffy said.

"You look scared," said Zoro.

"I'm going up against the Kuro Pirates, of course I'm scared! so What?! Don't you dare laugh at me" Usopp replied.

"We're not laughing at you," Zoro told him. "We're impressed, that's why we're going to help you."

Usopp couldn't help shed a tear at the thought that he wouldn't have to defend the village on his own.

"Don't worry Usopp, We'll help save your girlfriend!" Piggy declared giving him a smile and a thumbs up.

"Gir-Girlfriend!" Usopp exclaimed in shock before turning completely red. "I mean me and Kaya, that is too say…"

Clearing his throat he stood straight, "Of course as a brave warrior of the sea, I have had hundreds of gorgeous women declare their love for me," he said lying to the blonde girl.

"Liar!" the three other straw-hat pirates called out.

"What's the plan?" Zoro asked.

"I'll show you guys," Usopp said leading them to the top of a sloped path.

"They'll attack from this beach, and this path leads to the village. It's the only place they can go that doesn't have a steep cliff. So if we can defend this path, the village will be safe," Usopp said explaining his plan.

"We'll have to fight them so what can you guys do?" he asked in order to tailor the plan of attack accordingly.

"I cut" answered Zoro

"I stretch" answered Luffy

"I steal," replied Nami.

"I turn into a cat," answered Piggy.

"And I run and hide," added Usopp as he tried to walk away only to be held back by Luffy and Zoro.

"Where do you think you're going," Zoro asked.

"To uh, to get supplies, yeah supplies," Usopp answered having come up with an answer. To his chagrin the boys followed him and by night fall they wound up with a drum of oil to pour down the slope . Having finished pouring the slippery oil down the path the crew stood back to get a good look at their work.

"There's no way they can walk up this path now," Usopp said. "So to be clear on the plan. While they're all slipping and sliding we'll attack anyone who tries to climb the pass."

"I just hope we don't end up caught in our own trap," Nami said with a slight frown.

"When it comes to daring ides and using a slingshot, I have absolute confidence," Usopp assured her.

Having spent all night setting their trap, the sun began to rise up, signaling that the fight would start soon. Watching over the horizon, there was no sign of a ship approaching.

"Where are they? It's already dawn." Luffy complained.

"Maybe they changed their mind," Piggy offered.

"Maybe it's just me, but I think I hear yelling coming from the north of us…" Nami alerted the group.

"North? Oh no! there's another beach where they could land!" Usopp remembered.

"You mean we're at the wrong beach?!" Luffy yelled.

"Since the pirates had their secret meeting here, I just assumed they would come here. If we run straight north, we should get there in a couple of minutes. There's another path like the one here. WE can use it to stop theme," Usopp explained.

"Oh no! Our ships are at the north beach. They'll take all our treasure!" Nami said.

"I swear I won't let them get to the village," Usopp promised

* * *

 **Thanks to everyone for reading chapter 5.**

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	6. Mr Story Time - Part 2

A/N: This is purely a work of fanfiction. One Piece is property of Eiichiro Oda. Only Zelda/Piggy and all other OCs are mine.

Again I do not own One Piece, Bob's Burger, Futurama and any other pop culture references, etc.,I am only a fan who spends to much time binge watching and reading.

Question, does anyone else do that thing where after watching or hearing a track with the character's voice they start reading the character's lines in that voice in their head? In case you do I always figured Zelda/Piggy would have the voiced in English by Kate Micucci and in Japanese by Kana Hanazawa.

A/N: There is mild cursing in this chapter.

"Talking"

 **'Thinking'**

 _Flashback_

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

"What do you mean we're at the wrong beach?!"

Hours of setting traps on the beach had been for naught now that the group of young people had become aware that the enemy pirate would be landing at the beach on the other side of syrup village.

Luffy was the first one to take off to go confront the black cat pirates, followed by the long nosed boy, Usopp.

"Hurry! Our ships are at the other beach! Those pirates are going to steal our treasure!" Nami clamored not wanting to be left behind.

"Oh no! Pop's lucky axe!' gasped Piggy, remembering that all her belongings were left on their small boats.

"There better not be a single berry missing!" stipulated the crew's navigator.

Nami tried to follow Luffy after he had taken off towards the West rather than North, where the other beach was, only to slip in on the same oil that had been spilled over the path as a means of trapping the invading pirates.

"Nami? What are you doing?" Zoro asked wondering what was taking her so long as he waited for the red-head.

"Help! I'm slipping!" she said grabbing onto the first thing she could in an attempt to keep from sliding down the path. The closest thing in reach was the back of the sword's man's shirt.

"Let go!" Zoro said as he fell backwards into the slippery path.

"Thanks Zoro!" the navigator said using him as a stepping stone to free herself from the trap.

As the boy slid further down the pathway, Nami turned around giving a quick apology before taking off in the direction Usopp had gone. "Sorry Zoro, but our treasure is in danger!"

The second girl had been about to run off as well only to hear Zoro call out, "Piggy! Get me out of here!"

"How am I suppose to do that?" she shouted back not sure how to help the green-haired boy without sliding down herself.

"I don't care just figure something out!" he shouted back.

In her haste to find something to use as a mean of pulling Zoro out of the trap, the strawberry blonde girl, failed to notice the spot of oil causing her to lose her footing, fall backwards and roll down the hill and right into the slippery trap.

"Too bad you can just cut through all this grease," Piggy whined as she lifted her head up to see how far down she had rolled.

"Wait a minute, my swords…" taking inspiration from the girl's complaint, Zoro unsheathed two of his blades to climb up the pathway, using the blades as a means of anchoring himself to the ground and pulling himself up.

"Zoro you made it," she observed as the boy made a move to stand on his two legs without slipping..

Grabbing one of the sword's sheaths he tried to reach the girl in an effort to pull her up but found her too far to grasp hold. Unfortunately for the two Piggy had wound up on the edge of the slope only barley avoiding hitting the water of the beach thanks to the friction of the sandy beach

"This is taking too long and if you try to get any closer you'll just end up slipping on the oil. Just go on without me and go help Usopp, I'll catch up with you once I find a way up" Piggy ordered of the green haired man.

Although she had barley known the long-nosed boy a day, the group had promised to help defend the village. If asked, the cat-girl would admit that swordsman was one of the strongest in the group and the longer he was with her, the more difficult it would be for the other three to take on the hypnotist man and his crew.

Zoro questioned himself on whether to leave but knew that the others would stand a better chance against the black cat piarates if he were there, "Fine, otherwise you'll have to wait fifteen minutes, for me to come back."

Piggy smirked, "Do you really think you're so strong as to defeat a whole crew in such a short time?"

"Ask me again in ten minutes," he boasted before taking off in the direction Usopp and Nami had taken.

"Go get'em!" she shouted as she watched the shrinking image of Zoro's back

"Come on Piggy, this isn't brain surgery," the blonde said getting herself psyched up.

Taking a running start Piggy tried once more to get up the slippery path. Without an aid like Zoro's swords to anchor her, the cat girl slip and fell backwards tumbling back down. This time hitting her head when she landed. The blow to her skull hadn't caused any lasting damage, instead jolting a part of the girl's mind.

The result was that Piggy forgot where she was and even her new friends. Instead the young woman's old memories returned. The strawberry blonde was able to recall her name and even the fall in the mud that sent her rolling down the hill back when she had landed on Watermelon Island.

 **Wasn't I just in a forest? How did I get on the beach?**

Glancing down she also noticed that her clothing was different. Rather than her crimin brand t-shirt and mini-skirt, Zelda was dressed in a yellow tank top, capri pants and black flat mary janes.

"And who the hell changed my clothes! Ugh! Are my glasses still in one piece?" as she made a grab for her spectacles Zelda ley out a pained groaned when her hand grazed the sore spot on her head "That fucking hurts!".

 **Maybe there's a town nearby where I can ask for directions or at least get an idea of where I am.**

She groaned as she looked and saw that the only path to and from the beach to the wooded area was covered in oil.

 **Guess I'll be taking the more vertical route.**

Although she seldom did it, Zelda utilized her devil fruit power to change her form to the hybrid stage. In that state her ability to climb greatly multiplied. Knowing she couldn't climb the cliff side as she was the steep cliff side prove no challenge for the cat-girl as she scaled the cliff side in a less than a minute.

+++++Another Mouth to Feed+++++

"Fucking mosquitoes! This is why I'm an indoor cat. I don't deserve this!" Zelda shouted as she slapped another winged bug of her leg,

The blonde had barely stepped into the wooded area when the insects descended upon her. Due to her memory loss as far as Zelda was concern it had only been a couple of hours since she had landed after the pirate warlord Bartholomew Kuma had sent her flying rather than several weeks since she had amnesia and had adopted the identity of Piggy.

 **How am I going to explain to Mom why I've been gone for almost a week? She shouldn't be too surprised, everyone kind of saw it coming**

Despite the image of laziness and disinterest she projected, Zelda had trouble controlling her need to involve herself in matters that didn't pertain to her. Her father had always warned her that her loud mouth and meddling would irk the wrong person one day.

Continuing her trek into the woods Zelda couldn't help but think of such a previous incident.

 _At the amusement park, a group of three teenage boys were hanging by the roller coaster picking on any kid who got close to their spot._

 _One small boy had gotten too close to the teens and had his backpack and bubble with all his candy and souvenirs taken,as a group of children watched._

" _Oh no that's Nikki and his gang, I hear they pick on kids" a girl warned._

" _But we're kids!" said a young boy "We should forget the roller coaster and ride the tea cups instead."_

 _Zelda huffed. "You're all being stupid. That guy is nothing but talk. I'll show you, I'm not afraid of some teenage boys. Watch this."_

 _The other children couldn't help but gasp that the young girl would dare to get near the gang of bullies._

 _Walking towards the entrance for the roller coaster, the leader of the adolescents, Nikolai, stop playing keep away from his target when he spotted Zelda ignoring the cries of the other children._

 _The nine-year old girl was stopped when the fifteen year old bully stepped in front of her._

" _Hey Twerp, didn't you get the memo, you can't walk here without paying admission," the teen said to Zelda._

 _Standing as tall as she could the child took large strides as she talked back to the older boy. "Oh my gosh really? Oh, look it's a miracle! I'm walking!"_

" _Are you dumb or something?" he said trying to insult Zelda._

 _Zelda taking the bait quipped back, before sticking out her tongue, "the only dumb thing here is your face."_

 _Not liking the young girl's response to his intimidation, the taller teen grabbed the young girl's glasses._

" _Give those back now!" Zelda commanded trying to reach for the eyewear that the Nikki held above, out of the girl's reach._

" _Not so brave without your glasses are you Twerp," the boy teased breaking the eyewear in half as his friends laughed behind him._

 _Nikola and his cronies stop laughing however at the sound of an audible chomping noise when the young girl bite the bully's hand. "What the hell brat!?"_

 _The male teen tried to shake the child off only for the bite to get deeper. In retaliation the boy hit the girl's cheek causing Zelda to let go._

" _You bitch! What is wrong with you?!" The boy cried out cradling his bleeding hand._

" _That's for breaking my glasses and this is for being a dick!" the little girl answered before punching the boy in the stomach causing him to keel over._

 _Zelda would have stayed but chose to get away when Nikolai's companion ran to their boss's side._

 _When she got to the park entrance, Zelda found her father Silvers Rayleigh staring at her with a curious look on his face._

" _Should I even ask what that was about?" he asked leaning down to get a better look at the bruise that was starting to form on his daughter's face._

 _Grabbing the grown man's hand the young blonde simply replied "It was his fault for being a twat."_

" _You know, one day you're going to mess with the wrong people and then you'll really be in trouble. You never know when a nobleman will show up," he cautioned._

" _Oh I'm so scared," the small blonde said sarcastically. "What do you think, I going to get in trouble with a celestial dragon and some marine is going to chase me off to some faraway island. I'm not scared."_

In the end all Zelda supposed the scenario did happen in some shape or another. Interrupted from her thoughts, the sound of feet hitting the ground got closer and closer. Weaving through the trees, came out the three young Usopp pirates along with the young lady, Kaya.

"Finally some people. Excuse me! Where can-"

"Ahh! He's right behind us!" Onion yelled as the group ran past Zelda nearly trampling the female.

"We have to get Miss Kaya away from him," said Pepper.

The girl stood in confusion as to who or what was chasing them. Zelda's question was answered as the blond barley missed the razor sharp blade that had be swung cutting down the surrounding tree.

Zelda had barely managed to bend backwards in a flexibility even she had not been aware she possessed as she flip backwards and remained low to the ground in case the round object was sent her way one more.

Jango, the hypnotist of the black cat pirates, wasted no time in swing his round circular blade cutting down anything in his path .

"Come out and play you rotten brats!" the Hypnotist called out menacingly. "Don't think you can escape me! I'll cut down this whole forest if I have to."

Hearing the man's threats, Zelda was able to get the gist of the current situation.

 **Great, out of the frying pan and into the fire. Not am I lost but now I gotta worry about some psycho on the loose…**

Turning her heels, Zelda went running toward the direction she had seen the kids and the pale young woman go.

Unbeknownst to her, at that same moment Zelda's or rather Piggy's companions, Usopp, Nami, Luffy and Zoro were still at the beach facing Klahadore or rather Captain Kuro, the former captain of the black cat pirates.

Taking a side path Jango caught up to the fleeing group before the cat-girl. Using his round blade he caught the three boys in a sudden hypnosis causing them to drop suddenly in slumber as Kaya stopped in her tracks not wanting to leave the children behind.

"What did you do to them?!" she yelled at the hypnotist.

"The same thing I'm going to do to you," he said holding up the pendant.

The young heiress closed her eyes and began backing away from the man in hopes of keeping from falling under the pirate's control. As she moved away, Kaya tripped over a tree root falling backwards.

"Open your eyes!" Jango ordered feeling frustrated that the girl and the young children were making what should have been a simple task so difficult.

"I won't do it! I won't let you hypnotize me. And I won't write a will" Kaya said refusing to comply with the pirates' demands.

Jango approached the young woman causing her to back away until she hit the back of a tree. Raising his hands in an attempt to grab his target, he threatened her saying, "In that case, I'll have to pry your eyes open!"

"KITTY CAT KICK!"

Having caught up to the fleeing group, Zelda used her devil fruit power to make a dynamic entry in time to stop Jango from harming the young heiress. Jango didn't know what had hit him when the paw like foot made contact with his face sending him flying and hitting the ground.

"Kitty cat kick? When did I come up with something so lame?" Zelda couldn't help but wonder after the words had left her lips, unaware that she had come up with the name in her amnesiatic alter identity.

"Hey kid! Are you okay?" Zelda asked checking on the younger woman after involving herself in the situation.

Carefully opening one eye, the wealthy girl was surprised to what appeared to be a person with cat like features including pointed ears, a tail and even orange fur,

"Yes I'm alright. Sorry do I know you?" she asked accepting Zelda's hand to stand up.

"Doubt it, I'm not exactly from around here." The Zoan fruit user answered unaware that Kaya had in fact seen her when she looked like a regular house cat atop the pirate Monkey D. Luffy.

Before the strawhat pirate could give herself a proper introduction the pirate hypnotist Jango picked himself up. Standing with his circular blade in hand he was now focused on the newcomer, "Looks like I'll have to put you to sleep. Permanently."

Taking his intentions seriously, Zelda went on the offensive, tackling him before he could free his blade from the tree trunk where it had been imbedded after she had kick the sunglass wearing man.

At that moment, the three young Usopp pirates awoke to the sight of the cat-girl that was part of the pirate crew that had arrived the day before, fighting with the hypnotist. The Cat-Cat fruit user had the thin man pinned to the ground, wrapping her arm around his neck in a choke hold.

"You three!" Zelda called out to the now conscious boys. "Grab the girl and run!"

Not needing to be told twice, Carrot, Pepper and Onion, took hold of Kaya and ran as far as they could heeding the adult woman's orders.

Jango lifted his head up in time to catch the four get away as the small group of youngsters ran deeper into the woods.

"Don't think for a second that you'll catch up to them," she said putting more strength into her choke hold to keep the dangerous man back to give the other's a chance to get away.

Feeling like he was getting close to passing out from the lack of oxygen, Jango pulled on the thin string that he still had in his hand. The string was the cord attached to the circular pendant that was his weapon of choice.

Pulling the blade towards him, the black cat pirate surprised Zelda with a small but deep cut on the young woman's arm, causing the blonde to release her hold on Captain Kuro's first mate.

Wincing at the stinging sensation on her arm, Zelda looked away to check on the cut she had received. Taking advantage of her distracted state, Jango stepped away from Zelda.

"Now I'll make good on that promise to put you to sleep Kitty," Jango said as swung his pendant in all directions cutting down every and any branch or tree in his way in his attempt of take down the cat-woman.

"You'll have to do better than that," she boasted.

Zelda in an attempt to dodge the blade failed to notice a particularly large branch that had been cut and was falling in her direction. With a large crack the tree part hit the orange tabby on the head breaking in half from the impact.

The force caused the cat hybrid to hit the ground her head throbbing from the impact that would no doubt turn into a large lump in a matter of minutes. Dazed, Zelda seemed to drift in and out of consciousness until her head stopped moving.

++++Another Mouth to Feed++++

"We have to keep going until we find the captain!"

Gasping for air, Carrot, Pepper, Onion and Kaya tried to keep going on the nearest path to get as much distance as they could between themselves and the strange hypnotist.

"Slow down there's someone up ahead!" Onion said spotting a couple of people

"Hey it's the Captain!" shouted Carrot.

"Captain! Over here!" shouted Pepper.

"Usopp!" cried Kaya upon setting her eyes on her friend and the green haired swordsman who was carrying the story teller on his back.

When Kaya had gone in search of Usopp, the teen had been injured in his confrontation with the Captain Kuro and his pirates. Already bleeding and injured he had instructed his young friends to take the blonde girl and get away.

"Usopp! Thank goodness you're not dead!" she cried wiping away her tears.

"What happened to the guy in the sunglasses?" Zoro inquired interrupting the small reunion. The former bounty hunter wasn't ready to let his guard down, especially with an opponent being unaccounted for.

Pointing in the direction they had just come from Pepper said, "He's back that way!"

"That cat-lady is fighting him!" Carrot added.

"Usopp, you have to help that girl," the blonde heiress asked of her friend.

"You guys stay here protect Kaya," Usopp instructed before he and Zoro headed in the direction that the kids had pointed at.

As the two got closer the sound of tree branches hitting the ground could be heard.

Using his sharp sight Usopp spotted the two opponents. "There they are! Stop here!"

"Quit hitting me, you're poking my wounds," Zoro growled at the boy he was carrying, who had hit Zoro in an effort to get him to stop moving.

"There's your friend and it looks like she's in trouble," Usopp pointed out.

Jango had managed to knock the cat girl down and was ready to throw his round blade at Piggy as the woman with cat-like features began to stir as she regained consciousness.

 **Huh? How did I get here? Is that that weird hypnotist?!**

Having caught sight of the danger the young woman appeared to be in, Zoro let go of Usopp. letting the younger man fall to the ground the former bounty hunter grabbed hold of one of his swords as he ran towards the clearing.

"Stop right there, hypnotist!" Zoro roared.

The hypnotist grimaced having thought that the man with green hair would have already been killed by one of his crew members. "What? Not him again! I'll finish you quick and then take care of him."

Thanks to Zoro, the man before her looked away long enough to notice Piggy was fully wake letting her send a kick to the man's stomach pushing him away from her. Still a bit disoriented from hit on her head where tree branch fell the kick had managed to push the older man away but not to the ground.

"You lousy bitch, this time I'll make sure to slice you up into small pieces," he grunted in frustration at having lost the rich heiress because of her interruption.

"I don't think so," Zoro said as he cut down a tree branch that was before him.

"Good! That branch was in the way…" whispered Usopp who had gotten up and drawn his slingshot, taking aim at the pirate wearing sunglasses.

"Take this, Hypnotist! Secret Technique- Exploding stars!"

The enemy pirate had barley any time to register what had happened when the impact and explosion of one of Usopp's arsenal knocked out the pirate.

With Jango down for the count, Zoro walked up to Piggy, helping her steady herself as she stood up.

"That's a pretty big bump on your head," he commented as sheathed the blade in his hand and took off the bandana

Piggy touched the now purple bruise and winced.

"It's nothing compare to you," she replied looking at the cuts on the swordsman's torso. Looking around for the teen who helped her out she asked, "Where's Usopp? Wasn't he just here?"

"He went to check on his friends," Zoro answered.

Usopp had returned to the spot where he had the Usopp pirates and Kaya stay put. While Zoro and Piggy headed back to the beach where Luffy and Nami had been fighting Captain Kuro and his crew, Usopp had sat his friends down and asked them to keep the events of that day a secret from the villagers. As much as the group protested that the inhabitants should know of the lying boy's heroics they eventually agreed to his request.

"What happened to the other pirates?" Piggy inquired upon being reunited with the crew.

"Luffy sent them packing," Nami informed the other girl as she checked the large bag in her hand to make sure all her treasure and money was accounted.

++++Another Mouth to Feed++++

"Thanks, I really owe you guys," Usopp said thanking the strawhat pirates. "Without you, I couldn't have saved the village"

"What are you talking about? It was all you, you made me help," smirked Zoro.

"Me too," said Luffy as he remained on the ground, exhausted from his battle against Captain Kuro.

"Who cares about the village, I got my treasure back," cheered Nami.

"Having survived all of this, I've made a decision," Usopp announced to the group.

"What decision would that be?" asked Piggy.

"I'm going out to sea. In other words, I'm going to become a real pirate!"

After making his announcement, Usopp let the other four be, as he return to his home to pack his things for his journey.

The strawhat pirates returned to the small boats to get cleaned up and check that nothing else had been taken. Once again it fell upon Piggy to clean up and wrap up Zoro's injuries and handing him a clean shirt.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang on this first aid stuff," Piggy said cheerfully as she finished bandaging the spot where she had been cut. She had even looked over Nami and Luffy. Luckily they weren't hurt as bad needed only a change of clothes. And in Luffy's case a bit of cleaning up.

"We should get something to eat before we go," Suggested Nami.

The Strawhat Pirates found themselves sitting in the same booth as the day before when they went to grab a meal at the small restaurant in town.

"You sure like cake," Luffy teased as he tried to take a bite of Piggy's dessert only to have the baked dessert moved out of his path.

"If you want a piece, you should ask nicely and say please," said Piggy repeating the lesson her adoptive mother, Momo, had instilled once she had learned of the cat-girl's appetite.

"I found you!" a voice called to the group.

The young pirated had finished their meal and were ready to go only to have the blonde heiress approach their table.

"Hi, Miss Kaya," Luffy greeted.

"Shouldn't you be recuperating?" Nami asked regarding the girl's health.

"I'll be fine," Kaya answered. "My illness was caused by the shock and sadness of losing my parents. Usopp brought my spirits up, but I can't depend on others forever."

"Alright! You go girl, respect for women. My body, my rules!" cheered Piggy.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Nami asked still unaccustomed to Piggy's enthusiasm

"Anyway, you guys said you needed a ship, right?" Kaya brought up.

A large grin grew on Luffy's face. "Are you gonna give us a ship?!"

Nodding she affirmed the young captains guess. "It's my way of thanking you all for your help. Come with me and I'll show you guys what I got you."

The crew paid their tab and followed the young woman with anticipation as to what kind of ship would be waiting for them.

"Ta-da!" Kaya announce when they reached the coast. "What do you think?"

caravel class ship with a figurehead of a sheep

"Wow!" exclaimed Luffy with his jaw dropping.

"Wow…" said Zoro looking at the ship.

"A caravel!" said Nami excited at the thought of getting the ship for free.

"It's so cute!" cheered Piggy looking at their new ship with stars in her eyes.

 **We'll be able to travel the Grand Line with this!**

"She's not the newest model, but I designed her myself," Said Merry, Kaya's butler as he approached the group of youngsters. "She's a caravel with a jib and central rudder. I present to you the Going Merry!"

"You're really going to give us this ship?" Luffy asked Kaya.

"Yes, please take it," she reaffirmed.

"Thanks a lot Kaya!" Piggy exclaimed as she surprised the heiress by grabbing her hand and pulled her in for a hug.

"Oh um you're welcome," she said a bit awkwardly not expecting such contact from the cat girl.

"What a great ship," complimented Luffy.

"I've stocked it with everything you might need at sea," Kaya added having been released from Piggy's hold.

"Whoa! Stop me!"

The group turned around to see where the shout had come from only to catch sight of a person rolling down the path to the beach with a large pack.

"It's Usopp," identified Kaya.

Before Usopp could roll into the water, both Luffy and Zoro stopped the boy in his tracks.

"Usopp," Kaya addressed. "So, you really are going out to sea…"

Walking up to the blonde he said, "I am. I have to go before my resolve weakens. And when I come back, I'll have even better tales to tell you. Only this time they'll be true!"

With a sad smile she replied, "I'll look forward to it.

As the Straw-hat pirates boarded the Going Merry Usopp looked up at the ship and shouted, "You guys take care. I'll see you around."

Luffy looked down from the ships railing. "Why?"

Usopp faced fell "What do you mean why? Since we're all pirates we might cross paths someday."

"Stop babbling and get on board," uttered Zoro as he directed the confused Usopp.

"We're a team aren't we?" asked Luffy as if it were the most obvious solution.

It took a moment for the idea to set in, Usopp couldn't believe it, he would be part of a genuine pirate crew like his father.

"Yeah! Can I be the Captain?" he asked climbing up the rope ladder.

"No Way! I'm the captain!" protested Luffy.

+++++Another Mouth to Feed+++++

"Guys it's finished!"

"What's going on?" asked Piggy having been exploring the ship with Nami.

"It's finished!" shouted Luffy unfurling a large black sheet.

"Uh…oh…oo.. how nice…what is it?" asked Piggy trying to sound impressed while wondering what it was the young pirate had in his hands,

"Our Pirate flag! I already had the emblem thought up. "

The boy in the straw-hat held up a black piece of cloth. On it was a crude drawing of what looked to be a skull and cross bones wearing a hat similar to the one atop the young captain's head.

"Oh I see it now! It's a beautiful ….face?" the strawberry blonde said unsure of what to say of the flags design.

"This guy's a little low on the design sense," commented Usopp.

"Hmmm, is it avant-garde?" questioned Nami,

Zoro couldn't help looking at the jolly roger with a raised brow. "Well a pirate flag ought to inspire terror and this is pretty scary."

"Do you like it?" Asked Luffy with a big grin causing the others to take a minute to decide how to break it to the young pirate that his flag wasn't exactly the most aesthetically pleasing without hurting his feelings.

"You're painting stinks Luffy," said Usopp bluntly. "Let me try."

Taking hold of the paint and a new piece of black cloth, the long-nosed man took Luffy's original designed and cleaned it up. The resulting flag now bared a clear picture of the skull and cross bones and the strawhat of their captain.

"I like it!" said Nami approving of Usopps work.

"Oh my god it's perfect!" expressed Piggy patting the long-nosed boy on the back with enough force to send him face first to the ground..

"Oh thank goodness, I was worried we have to keep looking at that thing Luffy drew every time we hoisted up the flag," Piggy whispered to the red-head girl.

Although she had mainly choose to tag along with straw-hat pirates as means to finding where she came from, Piggy couldn't help but get excited at seeing the crews new emblem.

Showing off a bit due to the compliments he had gotten from the female members of the crew, Usopp couldn't help but boast. "I'm a man of many talents. I've been drawing things on walls for years."

"That's great! Can you paint the emblem on the sail too?" Luffy asked.

A couple hours later their logo was on full display on the large sail.

"Our pirate ship, the Going Merry is ready!"

"Good work everybody," Piggy cheered as she began handing out drinks to her companions.

"You don't mind making us refreshments?" asked Usopp.

Piggy thought about the question for a moment before she answered, "I don't actually. Making drinks and carrying them around on a serving tray just feels right for some reason."

"Maybe Luffy's right and you should be our Cabin boy or Cabin girl," said Nami as she accepted the cup of water from the blonde.

"I thought I was supposed to be the crew pet," Piggy joked secretly hoping that they wouldn't stick her with that title.

KABOOM!

Before the conversation could go any further, the sound of cannon fire rang. Zoro looked over to see Luffy firing off one of the ships four cannons.

"What are you firing at?!"

"That rock over there," Luffy answered piitng out a large rock formation in the distance. "But this thing doesn't shoot right."

"Let me try," offered Usopp as he walked up to the large canon and went to work making slight adjustments.

Upon firing the cannon ball hit the target on the first try, impressing Luffy and the others.

"You'll be out Sharp-shooter!" declared Luffy.

"If you're that impressed maybe you should call 'Captain'," said Usopp on;y to receive a collective call of 'No'.

The crew had gathered in the small kitchen that also servered as the dinning and meeting area for the crew.

Piggy was digging through the refrigerator finally taking her head out when she heard her name being called. .

"What are you doing Piggy?"

"Looking for something to eat, my stomach's been grumbling for a while now."

"I've been thinking, there's still one position we need to fill before we reach the granc line," brought up Luffy.

Getting an idea of what Luffy was trying to say, Nami said "This Galley has all the right equipment; I'll do it for a price."

"Good, that kind of skill is essential on a long voyage," voiced Zoro.

"Then it's agreed! A pirate Ship must have a musician!" declared Luffy.

* * *

 **Thanks to everyone for reading chapter 6.**

 **Any Comments or Questions leave them in the review section.**

 **Thanks to Fish57 for the review/comment. Regarding Zelda/Piggy's name, eventually she will go back to using Zelda in a future chapter. And once Sanji appears, I doubt he'll call her Piggy, as it wouldn't be something that Sanji (at least how I see him) would call a girl if could help it.**

 **Thank you to Puddykatz, Wizard Alchemist, FROSTDRAGON4875, Laughing White, Bape, elladu64, BubblesTheMonster, EmilyWolf808, XxMelodyAnimeGirlxX, PikaxGirl, randomlyrite, OtakuLuver411, Shiovaun, ZKARYX, BlueMinnow, Haibara2780 and Danareyes97 for favoriting.**

 **Thank you to Puddykatz, Wizard Alchemist, Cervuss, koreanlover21873, Godzno, , camillevedelsby, animegal1998, Fuzzyfest14, Laughng White, Heitor, chi4ngo, Emerald180, elladu64, kerveillantremi, Gameprince33, Loveisforever12, CupcakeLoopy, BubblesThe Monster, Fish57, EmilyWolf808, XxMelodyAnimeGirlxX, Booksarelife9, psunshine2, PikaxGirl, randomlyrite,OtakuLuver411, Shiovaun, ZKARYX, BlueMinnow, trollypop, Kimiama, Haibara2780 and Danareyes97 for following.**


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